In Los Angeles, the Kings were taken out of the game early on Saturday when the Carolina Hurricanes hit for a double in the first period and added a third marker in the middle frame to take a 3-0 lead into the third period.
LA tried a late rally but it fizzled in a 5-2 loss.
Pyotr Kochetkov made 31 saves in the Canes win.
“He’s been huge for us, you know, for our organization,” Hurricanes forward Andrei Svechnikov said. “Yeah, he’s just so confident and calm. I feel like he’s just getting better and better every game.”
Carolina improved to 14-6-5.
“We did a great job today playing our system,” Svechnikov said. “Just from D-zone to the offensive zone, we were moving the puck pretty fast, so that’s why I think we were successful tonight.”
LA dropped to 13-10-4.
Brady Skjei and Martin Necas scored in the first period for the lead.
“The ones that got away on us ended up in the net, and it wasn’t the goaltender’s issue. It was ours,” Los Angeles coach Todd McLellan said. “… The ones that got away on them, we came close but not close enough.”
The lead was extended to 3-0 in the middle frame on a strike from Sebastian Aho.
“Our mentality right now is shoot it to the net because before we were struggling a little bit with that,” Svechnikov said. “Right now, we’re just try to make a simple play.”
LA tried to rally with a goal from Arthur Kaliyev for a 3-1 score in favor of the Canes.
“Third period, sat back a little and got in a little bit of penalty trouble, you know,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “They definitely had a good push there.”
Svechnikov added a marker for Carolina for a 4-1 lead.
The Kings’ Samuel Fagemo scored with less than three minutes left on the clock for the 4-2 final.
“It’s kind of an ‘I’ve arrived’ marker, that and that first lap when you play your first game,” McLellan said. “So Sammy’s arrived. I thought he had a good strong game tonight.”
Jonathan Quick made 27 saves in the Kings loss.
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