In Los Angeles, the Kings doubled up the Tampa Bay Lighting on Tuesday night, 4-2.
Jonathan Quick made 23 saves to help the Kings snap a 10-game losing skid to the Lighting.
“I didn’t know that,” Kings coach Todd McLellan said. “I wasn’t here for all 10, so I just know we’ve had a tough time with them since I’ve been here.”
Gabriel Vilardi picked up a goal and two points in the win.
“I think we’re a good team too,” Vilardi said. “Yeah, they’re a good team. They’ve been to the Cup Final, whatever it is, three years in a row now. [Andrei] Vasilevskiy’s one of the best goalies in the game. But, like I said, I think we’re a good team too, so we have to beat teams like this, especially on home ice.”
Brandon Hagel and Nikita Kucherov scored for Tampa.
“Obviously, it’s not the start we wanted, but I think there’s no need to panic. There’s no need to stress out,” Hagel said. “Everyone believes in this room that we’ll turn it around. There’s some adversity throughout the year, and it just happened to be at the start of the year for us.”
Phillip Danault gave LA a 1-0 lead in the first period.
Blake Lizotte also scored for the Kings, his strike gave them a 3-1 lad in the second period.
Adrian Kempe gave the Kings a 4-1 lead in the third period.
Kucherov hit for a goal with less than three minutes left on the clock in the third for the 4-2 final.
The goal came off the Lighting skating with the extra attacker.
Tampa was scoreless in four power play chances.
“Well, you’re pretty much going to grade things on if you score or not,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. “You get a 5-on-3 for an extended amount of time and do nothing with it, it doesn’t help your chance of winning.”
Vasilevskiy made 29 saves in the Tampa loss.
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