FIRST PERIOD

Highlight Reel: Snooze, yawn, snort, stretch. The Kings are in the Stanley Cup playoffs, you say. No kidding? When do they start? Thought this was a tape of some random October game Fox Sports Whatever 2 put on because the Dodgers were rained out. Flipped over to “The News Hour” on PBS because the game was so darned dull. Always can count on getting an emotional lift from PBS. Got back to the game in time to see King defenseman Rob Blake put North America’s pest, Tomas Holmstrom, into orbit with a wicked blue-line check. Otherwise, this was 20 minutes of agony.

Not in the Summary: Detroit doesn’t have many civic treasures but Steve Yzerman, the Red Wing captain, is one of them. He was a late scratch because of flu-like symptoms. His absence helped explain why the usual playoff fire seemed to be missing at Joe Louis Arena. The Red Wings seemed to be skating in slow motion for long stretches in the first period. Shots missed their mark. Passes failed to get there.

Winning Number: King Coach Andy Murray had to like the scoreless period. Hey, at least the Kings weren’t losing.

Wrong Number: On the other hand, the Kings were outshot, 12-4, after 20 minutes, which was a bad sign against the Yzerman-less Red Wings. The Kings needed desperately to seize the moment to start the game, and didn’t do it.

KINGS: 0

DETROIT: 0

SECOND PERIOD

Highlight Reel: Detroit scored the only goal it would need when winger Vyacheslav Kozlov fired an errant slot from the high slot off King defenseman Jere Karalahti’s backside 1:43 into the second period. As Chick Hearn might say, “He missed it so bad it went in.” King goalie Stephane Fiset had no chance to make the save because the shot was so far off target. Note to Red Wing honks who want to tell us how bad the smog, crime and hockey teams are in L.A., our new e-mail address: www.getalife.com. Spelling and grammatical errors will be forwarded to the governor of Michigan.

Not in the Summary: Brendan Shanahan, Chris Chelios or Sergei Fedorov for Detroit. Failing to appear for the Kings: Luc Robitaille, Glen Murray, Ziggy Palffy. Palffy has an excuse. He’s rusty from a monthlong layoff after suffering a separated shoulder. Other guys, take a lap.

Winning Number: Hey, it was only a one-goal deficit for the Kings. That’s usually pretty good work after two playoff periods for the visitors at Joe Louis Arena.

Wrong Number: Eleven shots on net after 40 minutes ain’t gonna get it done for the Kings. They must get more pressure in the Detroit end of the ice.

KINGS: 0

DETROIT: 1

THIRD PERIOD

Highlight Reel: Palffy, with a burst of speed in the Red Wing zone, put himself in a dangerous position with the puck. He was all set to pull the trigger for a point-blank shot, when Detroit defenseman Larry Murphy hooked him to the ice with 6:30 left. Referee Bill McCreary, standing nearby, apparently had put his whistle away for the final minutes, however. No call was forthcoming. It was the Kings’ last quality chance at a tie. They failed to get within the same area code as Chris Osgood’s net the rest of the way and Fedorov iced Game 1 with an empty-net goal with 13 seconds left.

Not in the Summary: No Yzerman meant the Red Wings were ripe for the taking in Game 1. The Kings didn’t put enough men in front of Osgood, making for an easy shutout. Almost all of the Kings’ 19 shots on goal were from long distance. They failed to generate much sustained offense, particularly in the first two periods. They won lots of other battles, but lost Game 1. Now, they’re in big trouble.

Winning Number: The Kings’ penalty-killing unit blanked the Red Wings on six chances with the man advantage.

Wrong Number: Six minor penalties were roughly six too many for the Kings to take. They must play flawless hockey in Game 2 if they hope to even the series. Staying out of the sin bin is a start on Saturday.

KINGS: 0

DETROIT: 2

ROSTERS

KINGS

No Player

1 Jamie Storr

3 Garry Galley

4 Rob Blake

6 Sean O’Donnell

8 Jere Karalahti

9 Kelly Buchberger

12 Marko Tuomainen

14 Mattias Norstrom

15 Jozef Stumpel

19 Bob Corkum

20 Luc Robitaille

21 Bryan Smolinski

22 Ian Laperriere

23 Craig Johnson

27 Glen Murray

29 Brad Chartrand

33 Zigmund Palffy

35 Stephane Fiset

42 Dan Bylsma

44 Jaroslav Modry

*

RED WINGS

No Player

5 Nicklas Lidstrom

8 Igor Larionov

11 Mathieu Dandenault

13 Vyacheslav Kozlov

14 Brendan Shanahan

15 Yan Golubovsky

18 Kirk Maltby

20 Martin Lapointe

23 Todd Gill

24 Chris Chelios

25 Darren McCarty

28 Steve Duchesne

30 Chris Osgood

31 Ken Wregget

33 Kris Draper

39 Stacy Roest

41 Brent Gilchrist

55 Larry Murphy

91 Sergei Fedorov

96 Tomas Holmstrom

PUCK CONTROL

How long the puck remained in each opponent’s zone.

Detroit in Kings’ zone: 22:08

Kings in Detroit’s zone: 24:14

Neutral zone: 13:38