Kings’ defensive woes continue to haunt them in loss to Hurricanes
Martin Necas had a goal and an assist and the Carolina Hurricanes extended their winning streak to four games, beating the Kings 4-2 on Saturday night.
Brady Skjei, Sebastian Aho and Andrei Svechnikov also scored for the Hurricanes, who got at least one point for the 10th time in their past 11 games.
“We did a great job today playing our system,†Svechnikov said. “Just from D-zone to the offensive zone, we was moving the puck pretty fast, so that’s why I think we was successful tonight.â€
Cal Petersen’s waiver situation this week has sent a clear and direct message to the Kings that they need to fix their defense.
Pyotr Kochetkov, who made 31 saves, is 8-1-3 in 12 career appearances. The eight wins through his first 10 starts are the most in franchise history, including its time as the Hartford Whalers.
“Yeah, he just so confident and calm. I feel like he just getting better and better every game,†Svechnikov said.
Samuel Fagemo scored his first career goal for Los Angeles, and Arthur Kaliyev connected on the power play. The Kings had their four-game points streak end. Jonathan Quick allowed four goals on 31 shots.
“The ones that got away on us ended up in the net, and it wasn’t the goaltender’s issue. It was ours. The ones that got away on them, we came close but not close enough,†Los Angeles coach Todd McLellan said.
The Hurricanes led 2-0 after the first period on goals by Skjei and Necas.
Skjei’s third of the season opened the scoring at 4:01, finishing off a rush on a backhand shot into an open net after a sliding Quick took himself out of the play. Jordan Martinook had the primary assist, but his clever chip off the boards to give Carolina numbers the other way was even more noteworthy.
“We made some special plays tonight, which we haven’t really seen much of, you know, off the rush. We scored a couple pretty goals, but all coming from good plays in our end,†Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said.
Necas doubled the advantage with 19 seconds left on a 6-on-4 power play as a delayed penalty allowed the Hurricanes to get an extra attacker on the ice. Necas got his team-leading fourth score with the man-advantage on a shot from the right circle through traffic.
“Our mentality right now is shoot it to the net because before that we were struggling a little bit with that. Right now we just try to make a simple play,†Svechnikov said.
The Hurricanes have scored on the power play in six straight games, and they are 9 for 16 in that span
Anze Kopitar scored twice, including the go-ahead goal in the third period, and the Kings rallied for a 5-3 victory over the Arizona Coyotes.
Aho made it 3-0 with 5:49 remaining in the second, putting in Necas’ pass from close range after missing a sitter earlier in the period. It was his 192nd goal, moving into a tie with Pat Verbeek for eighth in franchise history.
Kaliyev buried a one-timer midway through the third to get the Kings on the board, but Svechnikov benefitted from a fortunate redirect off a Los Angeles defender to push the lead back to 4-1.
Fagemo made it 4-2 with 3:35 remaining, but the Kings couldn’t get any closer.
“It was a fun experience for me,†Fagemo said. “Of course, it was a special feeling, but it sucks that the team lost the game.
Up next for the Kings: at Ottawa on Tuesday to begin a six-game, 10-day trip that also includes stops in Toronto, Montreal, Columbus, Buffalo and Boston.
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