Kings Again Clip Red Wings

Their twice-a-season appearances always draw a large number of their crimson-clad faithful, but despite the support the Detroit Red Wings have not fared well in their recent visits to Staples Center.

Including Saturday night’s 3-2 loss to the Kings, they are winless in their last eight games in the downtown arena, an unseemly run of ill fortune for the defending Stanley Cup champions that includes seven consecutive losses.

The Kings kept the streak alive behind Jason Allison, who scored his first two goals of the season in front of a capacity crowd of 18,177.

“We do get geared up for teams like Detroit,” King forward Adam Deadmarsh said of the streak. “You have to. If you don’t, you’re going to get killed.”

The Red Wings haven’t won at Staples Center since April 19, 2000, when their 3-0 victory completed a four-game sweep of a first-round playoff series.

They were 0-3 on the road in the Kings’ first-round playoff upset in 2001. Despite an 0-2 record in Los Angeles last season, however, they rolled up a league-high 116 points and won the Stanley Cup for the third time in six years.

Afterward, Hall of Fame coach Scotty Bowman and goaltender Dominik Hasek retired and captain Steve Yzerman had knee surgery, taking the inspirational leader out of the lineup until at least January.

But with longtime assistant Dave Lewis taking over behind the bench and free-agent signee Curtis Joseph in net on Thursday night, the Red Wings started a season-opening trip with a convincing 6-3 victory over the San Jose Sharks.

“They’re the champs and in my book they’re still the favorites,” King forward Ian Laperriere said before the game. “They’ve still got Nicklas [Lidstrom, the league’s top defenseman] back there and all those veterans that can chip in....

“It’s always fun to play them because you know if you don’t show up you’ll get your behind killed.”

That was never an issue Saturday as the Kings took the lead on the game’s first shift.

When Brendan Shanahan of the Red Wings attempted to clear the puck around the end boards, it caromed wildly off the glass to the front of the goal, where Allison swept it past Joseph 27 seconds into the game.

“That’s just being in the right place at the right time,” Allison said. “I actually was going to go behind the net, but at the last second I saw it pop out.”

Kris Draper pulled the Red Wings even at 13:15, blowing past King rookie Alexander Frolov and redirecting a pass from Bret Hull, but the Kings responded by netting two goals in less than three minutes to make the score 3-1.

Brad Chartrand scored from the slot after taking a pass from behind the net by Laperriere at 16:22 and then, with Red Wing defenseman Jiri Fischer in the penalty box serving a double minor for high-sticking Allison, the Kings scored a power-play goal at 19:09.

Allison, bleeding from a cut lip, pounced on the rebound of a shot by Jaroslav Modry and scored from the left faceoff circle.

“You get cleaned up at intermission,” Allison said later through a swollen lower lip that required stitches. “Especially on the power play, you want to make sure we get our first unit out there.”

The Kings killed four penalties against the Red Wings before Hull scored his first goal of the season and 680th of his career as Allison sat in the penalty box for tripping. The goal cut the deficit to 3-2 at 5:56 of the third period.