NHL Playoffs
NHL
Scores/Schedules
Standings
Statistics
Transactions
Injuries
Players
Weekly lineup
Video Highlights

  Saturday, Apr. 15 2:00pm ET
Red Wings win a wild one at home
 
  RECAP | BOX SCORE

DETROIT (AP) -- Larry Murphy has played in over 200 playoff games and he's still seeing new things.

Murphy watched in surprise Saturday as his Detroit Red Wings beat the Los Angeles Kings 8-5 in the highest-scoring playoff game since 1993, taking a two-game lead in their Western Conference first-round series.

Brendan Shanahan
Brendan Shanahan watches his shot trickle into the net behind Kings goalie Stephane Fiset.
"Before playoff games, you think the game through in your mind, and you think you have a pretty good idea what is going to happen," said Murphy, who also played in the highest-scoring game in postseason history, Edmonton's 10-8 win over the Kings in 1982.

"I never dreamed anything like this would happen," Murphy said. "I'll just bet that even if we win the Stanley Cup, there won't be another game like this."

Martin Lapointe scored three times and Kris Draper and Nick Lidstrom each added two goals for Detroit, while Ziggy Palffy had two goals for the Kings and Luc Robitaille had a goal and two assists.

The series, which the Red Wings lead 2-0, continues at Los Angeles on Monday and Wednesday.

"I think we proved today that we aren't going to go away," Kings coach Andy Murray said. "They had a lot of chances to bury us tonight, and we wouldn't let them. We kept hanging around."

The game was the highest-scoring playoff game since Los Angeles won 9-6 at Calgary on April 29, 1993.

"The only other game I've seen like this was one year in the Stanley Cup finals when we (Montreal) played Chicago," said Red Wings coach Scotty Bowman. "You had two of the greatest goalies around in Ken Dryden and Tony Esposito, and we were trying to clinch the Cup at home. Chicago won 8-7. There's just nothing the goalies can do in these games."

Lapointe's only other NHL hat trick came in Detroit's 8-2 victory over the New York Rangers on March 26.

"Obviously, it is really special to get three goals in a playoff game, but this isn't the type of hockey that we are used to," Lapointe said. "I'm sure that both teams are going to make some serious defensive adjustments before Game 3."

The game got off to one of the wildest starts in playoff history, with six goals in the first 6:56. They were the fastest six goals opening a playoff game since records were first kept in 1943-44. It broke the previous mark of 10:22 set by Detroit and Toronto on April 7, 1988.

Detroit needed just 93 seconds to take a 2-0 lead, aided by two turnovers by the Kings defense.

First, Garry Galley lost the puck to Vyacheslav Kozlov at the blue line, and despite two saves by Fiset, Brendan Shanahan was able to knock home a rebound for his first of the playoffs.

Just 38 seconds later, Kirk Maltby blocked Jere Karalahti's clearing pass and set up Lapointe at the hashmarks for his first goal.

The Kings got back into the game when Luc Robitaille knocked the puck home after a goal-mouth melee at 2:04. But the Wings regained their two-goal edge when Draper took advantage of Bob Corkum's giveaway to score at 3:32.

That still didn't end the offensive explosion, as Palffy scored on a rebound at 4:55, and Lapointe answered with his second goal on a rebound at 6:56.

For the last 13 minutes of the period, the game belonged to the Kings, as they outshot Detroit 15-2. But only Sean O'Donnell scored, putting home a loose puck on a delayed penalty at 19:36.

That pulled the Kings within 4-3 after one, but Detroit regained their composure and moved the lead to three goals early in the second.

Draper got his second of the game at 3:27, sending Stephane Fiset to the bench with a long slap shot from the left wing. Fiset gave up five goals on just 17 shots.

"I thought we really let Stephane down tonight," Murray said. "I told him that it wasn't his fault -- we were giving them goals on silver platters. You can't give a team like Detroit that many free pucks."

Jamie Storr got off to a spectacular start, stopping Draper on a breakaway, but couldn't stop Lapointe from getting his hat trick on the power play at 9:33.

The Kings made it 6-4 at 11:43, as Murphy lost the puck at the edge of the crease and Craig Johnson flipped it over Osgood.

Palffy got Los Angeles with 6-5 at 1:11 of the third, taking a long pass from Stumpel and sliding the puck under Osgood for his second of the game.

Lidstrom moved the margin back to two with a power-play goal at 9:18, then added an empty-netter in the final minute.

"These games just pop up from time to time," Bowman said. "It wasn't what we would have liked tactically, but it was certainly great for the fans and TV."
 


ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard

Los Angeles Clubhouse

Detroit Clubhouse


RECAPS
Colorado 3
Phoenix 1

Detroit 8
Los Angeles 5

Pittsburgh 2
Washington 1

San Jose 4
St. Louis 2

Toronto 5
Ottawa 1

AUDIO/VIDEO
video
 Martin LaPointe makes it two goals in the first two minutes for Detroit.
avi: 639 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1

 Sean O'Donnell puts it past Osgood at the end of the first period.
avi: 728 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1

 Brendan Shanahan fires the shot past Stephane Fiset.
avi: 826 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1

 Luc Robitaille slips the puck past Chris Osgood's skate.
avi: 945 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1