The view from Detroit

Detroit Free Press Red Wings coverage

-There are plenty of interesting quotes from the Detroit locker room in Helene St. James’ game story. Both Daniel Cleary and Mike Babcock questioned the officiating, and Babcock offered his explanation of where the breakdown occurred on Anze Kopitar’s game-winner. Henrik Zetterberg said of Pavel Datsyuk’s faceoff violation, in which he allegedly “swiped” the puck behind him – now a delay of game penalty, “I think if you’ve done one thing all of your career in a situation like that, you do it by instinct. It’s tough to get that away.”
Los Angeles 2, Detroit 1: Penalties doom bruised Red Wings in loss to Kings

-St. James also wrote of Brendan Smith weathering contact by Dustin Penner in the same right shoulder that had been sprained and caused him to miss 11 games before his return last night. Said Smith, “I’m not sure why that happened. I don’t know if it was intentional. I think just the fact you’re not ready for it and the puck’s not around or anything. He’s a big man, too. I’m not sure if that will be reviewed or anything. I’m interested to see what it looked like, too.” An argument could be made for a borderline interference call, but that contact appeared to be incidental. Players routinely bump into each other, Penner is 6-foot-4, weighs 245 pounds, and no malice was intended. A non-call was correct in my view, though some Detroit fans saw it differently.
Red Wings’ Brendan Smith endures ‘whiplash’ vs. Kings, but nothing major

MLive Red Wings coverage

-Ansar Khan provides multiple angles on last night’s game and reveals that Daniel Cleary received 15 stitches from a visor cut when he was run into the boards in the third period. On the Penner-Smith incident, he writes “Officials did not see defenseman Brendan Smith get leveled by Dustin Penner later in the period.” Is that true, or did the referees choose not to call a penalty on the play? Was it confirmed that the referees did not see the hit?
Red Wings feel they were burned by the officials after being clipped and blindsided by the Kings

Detroit News Red Wings coverage

Detroit News Photo Gallery

SB Nation: Winging It In Motown Red Wings coverage

-The Triple Deke took notes on last night’s game.
Royal Pain! Haha what, LA Kings 2 – Detroit Red Wings 1

-J.J. from Kansas awards points for things that don’t necessarily show up on the box score. This is certainly worth a read.
CSSI Analysis: Red Wings 1 – Kings 2