In Los Angeles Thursday night, the Kings got a goal from newcomer Vincent Lecavalier and Jeff Carter scored the game-winner in a 2-1 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Lecavalier was picked up by the Kings in a trade with the Philadelphia Flyers in a true rental transaction as he intends to retire at season’s end.
“Great bunch of guys,” Lecavalier said. “I can tell already. I didn’t know a lot of them, but you can tell this room, it’s a good room. It’s exciting. Everything was kind of quick, so I think it was kind of on adrenaline tonight. I’ll have a good sleep and start over tomorrow.”
Luke Schenn was also obtained in the trade from Philly.
Jonathan Quick made 25 saves for the win.
“He stood on his head and made some unbelievable saves,” Schenn said. “It’s nice to have a guy like that behind you, for sure.”
James Reimer got his first start in more than a month for the Leafs and made 39 saves in a solid effort.
“I didn’t feel as sharp as I would have liked to have felt, but I found a way to make saves,” Reimer said. “I’ve been working out in practice, trying to stay as sharp as I can, so it was nice to make a few saves. But they obviously got a couple of good goals in the third, and that was enough for them.”
The former Flyers played good minutes for the Kings in a difficult game with the Leafs who have been playing excellent hockey of late.
“They both gave us quality minutes,” Kings coach Darryl Sutter said of Lecavalier and Schenn. “It’s not easy. I’m sure there’s a whole lot of emotions … give them credit. We wanted quality shifts out of them, and they gave us some.”
Peter Holland scored a power play goal for the Leafs midway through the third period to cut the deficit to one after Lecavalier and Carter had scored earlier in the frame.
“I thought we were fine,” Toronto coach Mike Babcock said. “I thought we executed in our own zone pretty good. I thought we turned over too many pucks at the blue line. It took awhile for our forwards to get engaged, and I thought we had a better second [period] and then I thought we pushed.”
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