The Red Wings three stars against the Kings

February 28, 4:26 PMDetroit Red Wings ExaminerMike Mouat

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Chris Osgood

First Star - Chris Osgood

Chris Osgood returned from12 days of working on his game and was solid if not spectacular in a 2-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings on Friday night at Joe Louis, while turning aside 30 shots.

He was at his best in the first and third periods. In the first the Wings gave up 14 shots and at times were outplayed by the Kings and in the third they again gave up 13 more shots.

Throughout the night the Wings had difficulty clearing the puck form their own zone giving the Kings multiple chances, and Osgood rose to the challenge. In fact Osgood managed to do more by trying to do less, as the most discernable change in his style was he was letting the puck hit him as opposed to trying to make the saves. Alexander Frolov was the only King to beat Osgood and he did so on a second effort on a rebound that was not cleared by the defense in front of Osgood.

Following the game Osgood took a couple of laps to soak in the applause of the crowd for being the games first star. "Sometimes it is hard to play here, but overall, well the last ten days I got a ton of letters at my house, and people calling me, so people are great to me all the time and I appreciate it a ton. I wanted to show my appreciation for always being behind me."

Kirk Maltby

Second star - Kirk Maltby. Maltby played his 1,000th NHL game, and received an appreciative ovation from the crowd, and teammates alike. In fact coach Mike Babcock announced in the room prior to the game that Maltby would start the game along side Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg, which drew a roar from his teammates in the room. "For your first game you're definitely extremely excited, not that you've made it the NHL but you're at least there for that game and I remember scoring. Coming full circle to 1,000, I wasn't  nervous or anything like that, I was a little excited and glad that it's here, and get it over it and not have to talk or worry about it anymore. I appreciate the acknowlegement and all that stuff. I've played pretty much my entire career here, so I am glad I was able to do it at home, in front of the home crowd, and my family was able to come in, so it was special in that regard."

Ville Leino

Third Star - Ville Leino. Since being called up from Grand Rapids on January 29th, Leino has scored five goals among nine points in just 12 games. He was a factor again in last night's win drawing an assist on Detroit's first goal by Derek Meech. Leino played on the fourth line for most of the night and transformed that unit into a scoring threat on most shifts with his masterful puck skills, and ability to creat offense. Fellow Detroit Red Wings Examiner, Lamar Tidwell, recognized Leino's skills very early, to read his story click here. Leino has the skill to play on any line, but seems to deliver an added dimension of offense when he skates on the third or fourth line. He is on a three-game point streak and has four points in those three games.