DETROIT -- Uh-oh, it happened again.

The Detroit Red Wings squandered a two-goal lead for the third time in four games while letting the Los Angeles Kings storm back for a 3-2 victory Saturday night in front of a sellout crowd at Joe Louis Arena.

The loss dropped the Red Wings (25-18-8) into ninth place in the Western Conference.

“We had a good chance to gain a couple points on these guys, and after the first 10 minutes we stopped skating,” Red Wings captain Nicklas Lidstrom said after falling three points behind the Kings. “We got outworked. The whole second period it felt like we spent in our zone. They carried most of the game.”

Detroit entered the matchup with a chance to pass the Kings and claim the seventh spot in the standings in the opener of an important four-game stretch in seven days against conference opponents.

“It's a good feeling for this young group of guys to come in here and play the Detroit Red Wings and be able to win a significant game at this time of year,” Kings coach Terry Murray said.

Instead, the Red Wings fell out of playoff position behind the Calgary Flames, despite both teams being tied with 58 points after playing 51 games apiece. The Flames own the tiebreaker based on more wins.

Up next are crucial contests at home against the Phoenix Coyotes on Tuesday, on the road against the Minnesota Wild on Wednesday and back home to face off against the Nashville Predators on Friday.

The Kings (29-19-3) rallied from a 2-0 deficit in the first period.

Kings center Brad Richardson's third-period goal settled the outcome.

He tipped the puck past Red Wings goaltender Jimmy Howard for his seventh goal of the season at the 7:57 mark to complete a two-goal blitz that snapped Detroit's six-game winning streak against the Kings.

Los Angeles defenseman Peter Harrold's first goal of the season tied it up at the 6:27 mark of the final period.

Anze Kopitar put the Kings on the scoreboard with his 20th goal of the season less than two minutes into the second period. He tapped in a shot that deflected over the top of Howard right after defenseman Jonathan Ericsson had turned over the puck in the defensive zone coming out from behind the net.

It ruined a fantastic start for the Red Wings.

Valtteri Filppula scored his fourth goal of the season from a tight angle just to the left of the goal crease, lifting the puck over Los Angeles netminder Jonathan Quick's shoulder at the 5:29 mark of the first period.

Todd Bertuzzi padded the lead almost two minutes later when teammate Brian Rafalski's slapshot from the high slot deflected off a portion of his 6-foot-3, 225-pound frame parked in front of the net. It came just 13 seconds into a 5-on-3 power play, producing Bertuzzi's 15th goal of the season.

“I definitely think we got off to a real good start,” Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said.

Howard, making his 14th start in 15 games, stopped 30 shots. Quick stopped 31 shots.

E-mail Brian VanOchten at bvanochten@grpress.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/BrianVanOchten