Wings' Lidstrom reaches milestone in defeat of Kings

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Game Information

Arena: Joe Louis Arena Location: Detroit, Michigan

Referees: Dan Marouelli, Dean Morton Linesmen: Scott Driscoll, Steve Miller

Attendance: 17,782 (88.6% full)

Team Stat Comparison
71	Goals	65
73	Goals Against	59
22	Power Play Goals	22
23	Power Play Goals Allowed	18
1	Shorthanded Goals	1
4	Shorthanded Goals Allowed	0
290	Penalty Minutes	196
12	Average Penalty Minutes	9

Scoring Summary
1ST PERIOD			LOS	DET
5:41		Dustin Brown Assists: Matt Greene, Jarret Stoll	1	0
2ND PERIOD			LOS	DET
3:33		Jonathan Ericsson Assists: Justin Abdelkader	1	1
8:47		Tomas Holmstrom (Power Play) Assists: Nicklas Lidstrom, Brian Rafalski	1	2
3RD PERIOD			LOS	DET
3:24		Henrik Zetterberg Assists: Nicklas Lidstrom	1	3
11:57		Justin Williams Assists: Sean O'Donnell, Anze Kopitar	2	3
14:43		Kirk Maltby Assists: Todd Bertuzzi	2	4
19:53		Brian Rafalski (Empty net) Unassisted	2	5

DETROIT -- Nicklas Lidstrom reached a milestone -- and helped the slow-starting Detroit Red Wings get back to .500.

Lidstrom became the first European defenseman and eighth overall to reach 1,000 points, assisting on two goals in Detroit's 5-2 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday night.

The Swedish star has 229 goals and 771 assists in 1,336 career games. He's also the fourth player with 1,000 points as a Red Wing, joining Gordie Howe, Steve Yzerman and Alex Delvecchio.

The Defense Rests

With two assists against the Kings on Thursday, the Red Wings' Nicklas Lidstrom became the eighth defenseman in NHL history to record 1,000 points in a career.

Most Points by Defensemen, NHL History

Player	Points
Ray Bourque	1,579
Paul Coffey	1,531
Al MacInnis	1,274
Phil Housley	1,232
Larry Murphy	1,216
Denis Potvin	1,052
Brian Leetch	1,028
Nicklas Lidstrom	1,000

"It felt great, especially doing it at home," Lidstrom said.

The Red Wings have gotten off to a sluggish start and are only 3-3. They were trounced 6-2 by the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday night.

"I thought we were tentative at the start, which I expected," Detroit coach Mike Babcock said. "Anytime you get beat the way we got beat last game, confidence isn't huge and it took us a while to get playing. I thought we got some good goaltending early and then we got playing and just got better and stronger as the night went on."

Jonathan Ericsson, Henrik Zetterberg and Brian Rafalski each had a goal and an assist, Tomas Holmstrom and Kirk Maltby and also scored, and Chris Osgood made 24 saves for the Red Wings.

Osgood talked about Lidstrom, a six-time Norris Trophy winner as the NHL's best defenseman.

"It's a huge accomplishment, 1,000 points, but he's done it over his whole career," Osgood said. "So it's something you can't really be surprised about. It's consistency over a long period of time."

Dustin Brown and Justin Williams scored for Los Angeles, and Jonathan Quick stopped 27 shots.

"Tonight we didn't have the consistency shift after shift," Brown said.

Detroit scored twice in the second period to take a 2-1 lead.

Ericsson's second goal of the season tied it 3:34 into the period. He beat Quick with a wrist shot from the top of the left circle near the boards after Justin Abdelkader won a faceoff in the Kings' zone. It was Abdelkader's first career regular-season point. Holmstrom's power-play goal gave the Red Wings the lead 8:47 into the period. He tipped in Lidstrom's shot from the point.

Zetterberg made it 3-1, 3:24 into the third period. He deflected Lidstrom's slap pass past Quick.

"They capitalized on a their power-play and a couple of costly mistakes," Quick said. "You play a team like that, you've got to limit your mistakes."

Williams pulled Los Angeles within a goal with 8:03 left when he tipped Sean O'Donnell's slap shot from the point in off of Lidstrom.

Malby restored the two-goal lead with 5:17 left, slapping in a loose puck from the slot. Rafalski added an empty-net goal in the final minute.

Brown opened the scoring 5:41 into the game when he chipped in a loose puck from a goalmouth scramble for his first goal of the season.

Game notes
Detroit was without C Pavel Datsyuk because of an upper-body injury. ... Los Angeles D Jack Johnson played at the University of Michigan. ... Kings D Matt Greene is a native of Grand Ledge, Mich. ... Williams played Junior hockey in suburban Detroit with the Plymouth Whalers of the Ontario Hockey League.