Wings Shutout Kings

Los Angeles
Kings

"It felt really good out there," Fedorov said. "I thought we were feeling the pulse of the game, and when you do that, you are able to make a lot of plays. It's a nice feeling."

Kozlov scored at 1:43 left in the second period on a shot that hit Kings defenseman Jere Karalahti in the back and reflected into the net past goalie Stephane Fiset.

Chris Osgood made 19 saves in Detroit's net, earning his seventh career playoff shutout.

"When the defense clears rebounds, and keeps bodies away from the front of the net, it makes my life a whole lot easier," Osgood said. "I'm not scrambling around looking for the puck when the defense and I are working this well together."

Detroit played without Steve Yzerman, who sat out with the flu.

"It was a big shock," Detroit's Martin Lapointe said. "We're obviously a better team with him, but it's time for different guys to step up. I don't have to go into how important he is to this organization, but it's good to be able to get a win without him."

The Kings and the Red Wings split the season series 2-2-1.

"We need our top offensive players to play better than tonight," Kings coach Andy Murray said. "And we expect them to do that Saturday. We know that we can beat this team. We proved that in the regular season."

Game 2 of the best-of-7 series is Saturday night at Detroit.