Kings’ No. 2 Line Tries Harder : Hockey: Robitaille, Taylor and Elik star in 6-4 victory over Red Wings.

The points kept coming, but Tom Webster kept worrying.

Sure, Wayne Gretzky was again on top of the league with 103 points, including 33 goals.

And yes, his linemates, Tomas Sandstrom and Tony Granato, had 95 points and 46 goals between them despite being sidelined for 10 games each because of injuries.

But it was the second line that lifted the Kings past the Detroit Red Wings, 6-4, before 19,875 at Joe Louis Arena Monday night.

With Luc Robitaille putting the puck in the net and linemates Dave Taylor and Todd Elik setting him up, the second line provided two crucial goals including the winner.

“It was important that we get some scoring from the others,” Webster said, “to take the load off Gretzky’s line.

“I thought about making some changes. But I looked at the tapes and saw that the second line had the opportunities. They just weren’t scoring. So I decided to give them another chance.”

Robitaille cashed in an opportunity early, scoring his 28th goal in the first period.

After Detroit’s Steve Yzerman scored his first of two Monday, the Kings responded with a pair of goals from John Tonelli (11th and 12th) and Brian Benning’s fifth of the season to move into a seemingly comfortable 4-1 lead heading into the final period.

But the Kings know better in this building.

They lost in the last minute in their only game here last season. And they gave up the winning goal with slightly more than two minutes to play in their only appearance here earlier this season.

Sure enough, in the third period, here came the Red Wings.

They were led by:

--Sergei Fedorov, who scored his 23rd goal 4:06 into the period.

--Paul Ysebaert, who got his ninth at 5:56.

--And Yzerman, who backhanded his second of the night and 40th of the season past Daniel Berthiaume at 7:03.

Three goals in three seconds shy of three minutes.

A 4-4 tie.

The crowd cheering.

The Kings looking dead.

And that’s when Webster made another crucial decision, calling a timeout.

“I wanted to take the crowd out of it,” he said. “I wanted us to regain our composure. Go back to playing smart hockey. Slow things back down. Initiate rather than retaliate. Let the puck do the work.”

And let his second line do its share.

Robitaille got the deciding goal off a pass from Taylor into the slot.

“He (Taylor) made one of those plays Wayne makes,” Robitaille said. “He was patient. When he saw me open, he got me the puck and I shot as fast as I could.”

The puck went over the right shoulder of Detroit goalie Tim Cheveldae at the 15:55 mark, giving Robitaille 29 goals, second on the team to Gretzky.

Sandstrom later added his 28th to provide the final margin and improve the Kings’ Smythe Division-leading record to 30-18-5.

And this was the Kings’ 13th road victory, equaling the total for all of last season. They are 13-11-2 on the road; last season, they finished 13-23-4.

Detroit fell to 24-27-5. The Red Wings have lost eight of their last 10.

“We have so much more character in this locker room than we’ve had in the past,” Gretzky said of the Kings’ improvement on the road.

“You can’t just throw your sticks on the ice and expect to win. People now come to the rink and work hard.”