Strong debut for Jones

RALEIGH, N.C. —  Leave it to the new guy to show the Kings how to finish.

Randy Jones had a goal and an assist in his Los Angeles debut and the Kings beat Carolina, 5-2, Wednesday to extend the Hurricanes’ winless streak to 13.

Wayne Simmonds, former Hurricane Justin Williams and Ryan Smyth each had a goal and an assist, Jarret Stoll also scored and Anze Kopitar had two assists to give him an NHL-leading 30 points.

The Kings, who gave up three unanswered third-period goals in a 4-1 loss at Chicago two nights earlier, ended their two-game slide by reeling off three straight goals in the final 20 minutes.

Tuomo Ruutu scored twice for Carolina, tying the score at 2-2 with just under 16 minutes remaining on a snap shot from the left circle.

Roughly 2 1/2 minutes later, Jones took a pretty across-the-goal feed from Williams and tapped it past Manny Legace to put the Kings ahead to stay.

“I was just trying to get to the net and give [Williams] an outlet pass,” said Jones, who was claimed off waivers from Philadelphia on Oct. 29 and didn’t dress for the Kings’ previous five games. “The guy’s got great vision.”

For Carolina, it was yet another excruciating loss in a season already full of them. Playing their first full game without injured franchise goalie Cam Ward, the Hurricanes recovered after going more than 18 minutes between shots on goal but were held to fewer than three goals for the eighth consecutive game.

Backup goalie Erik Ersberg had 22 saves in his second start and first appearance in nearly a month for the Kings (11-6-2), who are in second place in the Pacific Division with 24 points.

“I played one game all season -- so it was easy to keep track,” Ersberg said with a smile. “I don’t count more backwards than that.”