December 31 postgame notes

-With the win, Los Angeles improved to 63-62-19 all-time against San Jose, a record that includes a home mark of 39-26-7. Saturday’s win snapped a six-game home losing streak to the Sharks, including playoffs. L.A. improved to 1-2-0 in the season series with games remaining in San Jose on January 3 and Los Angeles on January 18.

-The Kings improved to 10-9-2 against the Western Conference, 6-5-0 against the Pacific Division, 10-5-4 in one-goal games, 12-4-2 when scoring first, 8-1-1 when leading after the first period, 12-1-1 when leading after the second period, 15-2-3 when a player records a multi-point game (Pearson, Martinez) and 13-10-2 when outshooting their opponent.

-Darryl Sutter coached his 1,240th career game, surpassing Bryan Murray for 14th place on the NHL’s all-time games coached list, and tied Jacques Martin for 13th place all-time with his 613th career win.

-Peter Budaj stopped 18 of 20 shots. Since allowing six goals on 23 shots in Buffalo on December 13, Kings goalies have combined to stop 234 of the last 247 shots (.947 Sv%) they’ve faced over an eight-game span. Budaj’s 16 wins are his most in a single-season since 2008-09, when he had 20 wins with Colorado. His career-high in wins is 31, set in 2006-07 with the Avalanche.

-Jeff Carter’s 20th goal of the season moved him into second place in the NHL, behind Sidney Crosby’s 26 goals. He recorded his 12th season (of 13) of at least 20 goals and became the first King to register 20-or-more goals in the first 37 games since he scored 21 goals through 37 games in 2012-13. He scored his league-leading seventh game-winning goal of the season, tied for the third most in a single season in his career and most since he recorded eight in 2012-13.

-Alec Martinez recorded his fourth multi-point game of the season, the most amongst defensemen. He leads the team with 15 assists and ranks second with 21 points.

-Tanner Pearson scored his ninth goal on the season, the second-most goals scored on the team. He has five points (2-3=5) in the last five games.

-Los Angeles recorded 60 shot attempts (27 on goal, 16 blocked, 17 missed). San Jose recorded 44 shot attempts (20 on goal, 11 blocked, 13 missed).

-The Kings won 26-of-52 faceoffs (50%). Among regular performers, Anze Kopitar won 13-of-23, Nick Shore won 5-of-9, Nic Dowd won 1-of-5 and Jeff Carter won 6-of-14.

Sunday, January 1 is a day off for the team. The next practice is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. on Monday, January 2 at Toyota Sports Center.