Red Wings top Kings behind goaltender Osgood

It’s been a tough year for veteran Detroit Red Wings goaltender Chris Osgood, as he’s struggled with his goaltending mechanics.   After a four game ‘break’ as a ‘healthy scratch’ from the Wings lineup, Osgood returned to the net on Friday night and looked sharp as he stopped 30 shots to backstop a 2-1 Detroit victory over the Los Angeles Kings.

Osgood spent his ‘break’ working on fundamentals with Detroit goaltending coach Jim Bedard.  After his victory, he explained the process he had gone through and expressed relief that his first game back had gone so well:

"The physical skills were always there. It was just a matter of resetting my mind and just playing the moment. Now this game is over. I've always been like that, but for some reason I got away from that the first half of the year. You can fill your mind with too many things and it's hard to play when you've got a lot of stuff in your head."

Red Wings coach Mike Babcock was also pleased that his team’s top goalie was back in business:

"You don't just get lucky. If you work hard good things happen to you. All the credit goes to Ozzie. Tonight was a real positive showing for him. I'm sure he feels good about himself. Now he can breathe a little and not carry the weight of the world around."

Somewhat obscured in the Red Wings’ victory and Osgood’s comeback was an impressive performance by the Kings’ Jonathan Quick on the other end of the rink.  Quick made 39 saves in the loss.  Afterwards, Los Angeles coach Terry Murray had a mixed evaluation of his team’s performance:

"I think we did some good things in the first period. We managed the puck well and was getting it on the net. Unfortunately, we made some passes through the middle of the ice and that gave Detroit some momentum on turnovers."

After a scoreless first period, the Red Wings took a 1-0 lead just past the midway point of the second period when Derek Meech scored with assists from Kris Draper and Ville Leino. Tomas Kopecky would increase the Red Wings advantage less than two minutes into the final period, assisted by Valtteri Filppula.  The Kings would draw within a goal just three minutes later when Alexander Frolov tallied on the power play with assists to Kyle Quincey and Michal Handzus.   The Kings were not able to even the score despite putting 15 shots on Osgood in the final 20 minutes of play.

Detroit is now three points back of Western Conference leading San Jose, and will play their next two games on the road as they travel to St. Louis on Tuesday night followed by a game at Colorado on Wednesday.  They’ll return home for a big game next Saturday night against the Washington Capitals, who are currently the second place team in the Eastern Conference.  Los Angeles is still in the running for a playoff spot just six points behind eighth place Anaheim but they need to start winning some hockey games.  They’ll travel to Chicago for a game against the Blackhawks on Sunday and to Washington DC for a game against the Capitals on Tuesday.   They’ll then return to Southern California for a Thursday night game against the Dallas Stars at the Staples Center.