In Los Angeles, the Kings scored three times in the second period en route to a 4-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday.
The loss was the fourth straight for the Leafs.
“I don’t think there’s a more confident guy around here,” Kings captain Anze Kopitar said. “Listen, it’s great to see. Obviously, he’s had a couple tough years, a couple uncertain years, so the fact that he’s gotten off to a start that he is, it’s great for us, it’s great for him and we’re gonna need him to compete.”
Cal Petersen made 26 saves in the Kings win.
“We’ve done this a couple times this season where we get back to what we need to do,” Los Angeles coach Todd McLellan said. “Now the consistency thing is something that we need to grow.”
John Tavares scored a power play goal for the Maple Leafs in the fist period for a 1-0 lad.
“We didn’t get off to a great start last year,” said Tavares, who has five points (three goals, two assists) during his streak. “It’s not what we were looking for this year. You obviously want to get off to a good start, and you play to win every game. Every game we’ve had a chance to win. Have we played to our capabilities yet? I don’t believe so, so we’re going to stay with it, keep working.”
The Kings reeled off the three goals in the middle frame before Toronto’s Pierre Engvall cut the lead to 3-2.
Adrian Kempe, Viktor Arvidsson, and Gabriel Vilardi were the second period strikers for LA.
“Obviously, special teams are huge always, and the fact that we were able to come on top of that is big, especially against this team,” Kopitar said.
Kevin FIala scored early in the third period to give the Kings the 4-2 final score.
Ilya Samsonov made 25 saves in the Toronto loss.
“We lost confidence a little bit the last three games. We need to [get it] back,” Samsonov said.
Asked why, he responded, “Hard to say, but whenever you’ve lost three games in a row, for sure your confidence will be lowered. You don’t have more smiles.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.