Kings end long skid against Red Wings

The Kings’ Michael Cammalleri was only trying to get the puck across the ice to teammate Dustin Brown, who was perched at the crease.

The puck never got there.

Neither Cammalleri or Brown minded.

The game-winning goal that ended four seasons of frustration against the Detroit Red Wings never touched a Kings’ stick. Cammalleri’s pass hit the stick of Detroit’s Danny Markov and went into the net with two minutes left, a goal that pushed the Kings to a 4-2 victory that ended a 12-game losing streak against the Red Wings.

“As long as it went in, I don’t care if it goes off four sticks,” Brown said. “We need the wins.”

The Kings teased an announced capacity crowd of 18,112 at Staples Center with some spunk. They dangled another performance that showed they can compete with quality teams.

But was it the road to redemption or just another speed bump on a season-long descent?

The Kings overcame a 2-0 deficit, with goals from Lubomir Visnovsky, Rob Blake, Cammalleri and Sean Avery, who scored into an empty net to secure their second consecutive victory. It came against a team that dominated them, 6-2, a little more than a week ago.

A moment to cherish, a hurdle to overcome.

“Now we need No. 3,” Brown said.

This is the fourth time this season the Kings have won back-to-back games. They have yet to win three in a row. The have also followed other marquee-type victories with sloth-like performances.

The Kings beat the San Jose Sharks on Nov. 13, then lost three of the next four. They beat the Ducks on Dec. 3, then lost two of the next three. They beat the Sharks again on Dec. 14 and lost the next four.

That inability to perform consistently left the Kings buried in 14th place in the conference standings.

“I don’t know what it has been,” Brown said. “Maybe it’s because we have come to the rink hoping to win. That’s not enough. We’ll get a couple wins, then hope we can get another. We have to believe we can win.”

That might be a little easier after finally getting in the last word with the Red Wings.

The last time the Kings beat the Red Wings was Oct. 12, 2002.

“We can’t sit here and say, ‘Oh, there’s 40 games left,’ ” Cammalleri said. “That’s too much to look at. We have to break it down it segments. It’s the only way we’re going to get anything done.

“It’s the same with games. We have to break it down into periods, then break that down into five-minute segments.”

The last five minutes paid off Saturday.

The Kings had three third-period power plays, the last paying off. Cammalleri sat with the puck to the left of the net and spotted Brown.

“Their penalty kill is tough,” Cammalleri said. “They take away the lanes. I saw Brownie and tried to get it to him back door.”

Then the red light came on.

“Sometimes you need good luck,” Brown said.

The Red Wings seemed to be breezing to a victory, getting goals from Kris Draper and Mikael Samuelsson off turnovers.

But Visnovsky and Blake scored on back-to-back shots midway through the second period to tie the score.

“I give our guys a lot of credit,” Kings Coach Marc Crawford said.

“They have a lot of character and they showed it.”

chris.foster@latimes.com