Kings after deadline: Kings 3, Detroit 2 (OT)

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What the Kings and Detroit Red Wings said and the statistics they created Saturday in the Kings’ 3-2 overtime victory at Staples Center. As always, thanks to PR whiz Jeremy Zager and his staff, and hi to his grandma, who is a huge Kings fan.

Kings Coach Terry Murray, responding to a statement that the team responded well and didn’t pack it in despite trailing twice:

‘Well, the team will never pack it in, the one thing that I think we showed last year in our character is that we’re a gritty hockey club. You’re going to get knocked down, there will be difficult times in a game or in a stretch of the season, you just have to climb back up on top and get right after it and stay after it, and it paid off for us tonight. It was a good win and it was a fun game.”

On defenseman Alec Martinez, who had a goal and an assist: “He played very well, he made the winning goal happen. Martinez is making himself a good player. He’s got nice skills, he can really skate, and he shoots the puck very well. He’s got nice vision and he’s starting to do a really good job on the defending part of it.

‘You see the winning goal, the way he broke up the play and started that attack out of his own zone and then drives right through to the net, backing in their defensemen, which opened everything up for Brownie (Dustin Brown) to make the pass to Kopi (Anze Kopitar), and that was textbook how you draw it and he’s getting a lot of recognition for his play, obviously.”

Kings right wing Justin Williams

On the game: ‘It’s a huge win. It’s a big win against arguably the best team in the league right now. We battled back from a couple one-goal deficits and we played a strong third period. [Jonathon Quick] made the saves we needed him to make.’

“I think the early goal in the second really got us going. They were shutting us down and doing kind of what they wanted out there … they’re a puck possession team and don’t give you many chances. I thought we took advantage of them tonight. Everyone stepped up tonight and Kopi [Anze Kopitar] got a huge winning goal.” On the team’s slump: “We started well, we’ve been sluggish of late; we’re on an upward trend again.”

Kings center Anze Kopitar

On the game: “I thought we cranked it up in the second. We got a couple of goals there and we had some good momentum off the power play; we didn’t get a goal on it but I think we generated quite a few chances … Detroit is always a good team and you have to be very disciplined against them.’

‘We didn’t have a whole lot of shots this game, we have to bump that number up a little more … but I think all in all it’s a big two points and that’s all that matters.”

On losing the puck to Pavel Datsyuk on Detroit’s first goal: “That guy is unbelievable … with the firepower and offensive skill he has you have to be real careful playing against him, and [Henrik] Zetterberg and those guys. You just have to make the right decision 100% of the time.”

Detroit forward Henrik Zetterberg

On the game: “We got to play smart, we don’t have our legs moving and we just didn’t do our best today. We’ve been there before and it’s the same thing every time. We’ve got to play our game, play smart and if we do that we can get those two points.”

“We have four lines that have been contributing to scoring, which is really nice to have. I think in the long run it will help us and especially on road trips when we have back-to-backs. We got to play all four lines the whole game tonight and it helped keep the energy in the team.”

“It’s nice having the defense there to really produce points. We’re kind of spoiled about that. At the same time they’re really good defensemen too. That’s the way it’s been on this team and hopefully we can keep it going.”

Detroit defenseman Brad Stuart

On the game: “[Goalie Chris] Osgood was good. It was a long layoff for him, and he made some great saves early on, which kept us in it. That’s all you can ask for when a guy’s been out that long and he gave us a chance to win.”

‘Nowadays you need a goalie who can come in and play well for you. You don’t want your starter getting tired because you don’t have confidence in your backup. We have confidence in Ozzy, so for him to get in a couple games and get back into his comfort zone is going to be important.”

“It’s always tough to play back-to-backs. It’s not going to be easy and we have to realize it’s going to be more about how we approach the game mentally, but physically it might be a little tough. But if we’re ready mentally to make the smart plays and execute what we need to, then it’ll give ourselves a chance.”

Kings notes

* Kopitar scored his second career overtime goal (first was Nov. 10, 2007 vs. Dallas). Kopitar (1-1=2) now has 15 points in the last 13 games (7-8=15)

* Justin Williams (1-1=2) now has points in 16 of his last 19 games (8-12=20).

* Alec Martinez (1-1=2) recorded his first career multi-point game.

* The Kings are still the only team in the NHL not to have allowed a power-play goal at home (43-for-43). The last team to not allow a power-play goal in 12 straight home games was the Buffalo Sabres (last season).

* Defenseman Drew Doughty played a career-high 30:41.

* Center Jarret Stoll is 54-for-78 on faceoffs the last five games (69.2%).

* Defenseman Matt Greene had seven hits and has 15 in the last two games.

* Saturday’s game was the first of 12 straight games versus Western Conference teams for the Kings.

* Through 25 games last season the Kings were 14-9-2 (30 points).

* The Kings are 0-2-0 at home (best 12-game home start in club history in 11-1-0 in 1992-93; that club started 12-1-0 at home).

The Kings will not practice Sunday. Their next scheduled practice is Monday at 11 at the Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo.

--Helene Elliott