FINAL – Kings 5, Hurricanes 2 – Moore, Anderson, McLellan

The LA Kings snapped an eight-game losing streak with a hard-fought 5-2 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Monday afternoon at PNC Arena in Raleigh.

The Kings opened the scoring on the afternoon with the lone goal from the game’s opening 20 minutes. Off an extended shift in the offensive zone, forward Trevor Moore buried his team-leading 19th goal of the season to get the Kings on the board. Forward Phillip Danault and defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov tallied the assists on the play, Danault’s fifth straight game with a point, as the Kings took a lead into the first intermission.

Just shy of six minutes into the second period, the Hurricanes knotted the score at one. Defenseman Brent Burns snapped a quick pass through the neutral zone, springing a 2-on-1 the other way. Forward Seth Jarvis sent a pass through the slot to forward Jordan Martinook, with the latter burying at the back post for his fifth goal of the season and a 1-1 scoreline at the second intermission.

In a span of just over four minutes, the Kings turned a tie game into a 4-1 lead.

First, Danault made it a multi-point game with a hustle goal just 61 seconds into the third period. Defenseman Matt Roy got down low and deflected a Gavrikov shot wide of the net, but it deflected off the endboards, directly into the slot, where Danault drove the net and chipped it over Carolina netminder Antti Raanta to put the visitors back on top.

Just 80 seconds later, the Kings doubled their lead through forward Alex Laferriere. Laferriere took a feed from defenseman Mikey Anderson, walked into the right-hand circle and snapped a shot past Raanta for a 3-1 lead. Anderson started another scoring play just a few minutes later, as he jumped into the air to keep a puck in the offensive zone and found forward Jaret Anderson-Dolan, who hit forward Pierre-Luc Dubois for a one-timer goal and a 4-1 advantage.

Carolina pulled back a goal midway through the third period, via forward Jack Drury. Forward Stefan Noesen, stationed below the goal line, fed a pass into the low slot to Drury, who shot past Kings goaltender David Rittich to cut the Kings advantage to 4-2.

With just over a minute remaining, after the Kings killed a late penalty, Moore picked up his second goal of the game, into the empty net, his 20th goal of the season.

Hear from Moore, Anderson and Head Coach Todd McLellan following tonight’s game.

Trevor Moore

Mikey Anderson
On the relief of finally snapping the losing streak
Yeah, obviously it’s been a while, but you feel a little relief with the group. Over the stretch, I feel like we’ve been doing some good things, obviously there have been some breakdowns that go the wrong way but for the most part, we played some decent games that just didn’t go our way. So, to have one come out the right way, feels really good.

On doing a lot of good things, despite the losses, and having those things pay off
We watched some of the good stuff we’re doing, throughout that stretch, and there was a fair amount that was good, maybe more good than bad and for whatever reason, it just wasn’t happening. I thought the group held together good throughout it all, everyone’s got each other’s back. It’s nice to have a full performance tonight and come away with two points.

On the play of David Rittich behind the group tonight
Awesome. The last couple of years, we’ve had goalies come up when we need them. He had a few tonight, I think it was the end of the second, a couple of huge saves, breakaways a couple of times, that was big. The game can switch, momentum can change ways, but he was strong when we needed him and that’s something you like to see from a guy like him.

On getting two points tonight and seeing several defensemen chip in offensively
That’s an area ever since I’ve been here, I guess, we’ve talked about wanting to expand, get better. Obviously, some of us maybe not as offensive as others but if we’re able to help out and contribute, that’s something we want to keep doing. It feels good to have it and help out a little bit, more than just defending, so obviously felt good and we’re just happy for two points tonight.

Todd McLellan
On the relief of getting back in the win column tonight in Carolina
I think relief was a word you’d probably hear from a lot of guys but I’d rather choose reward, because we did do a lot of things the right way and we have on this trip. We finally got the reward for it, so that’s a good sign for us. A lot of energy and emotion went into that game. Penalty kill was great, goaltending was outstanding, everybody contributed. Losing Lizzo two minutes in didn’t help either, but guys dug in and we pulled ourselves out of it and now we’ve got to find a way to stay out of it.

On David Rittich’s performance in tonight’s game
Well, the guys nicknamed him Big Save Dave, so he made some real big saves. That type of effort’s needed to get a team out of this funk, sometimes the goalie has to steal one. I’m not sure that was the case tonight but he played extremely well and the team played well around him.

On getting goals from Dubois and Laferriere at 5-on-5 tonight
Makes a world of difference, it really does, it takes some pressure off the power play and the top six. To see them end up on the positive side was nice, again, reward for them.

On the stretch early in the third period that turned 1-1 into 4-1
Yeah, it was nice to see but there wasn’t one key to what happened. They all came in different forms. So, I can’t see say there was a trend or we made an adjustment, it was just playing the game. I thought we went to the net hard when there was stuff laying around and got rewarded.

On the production from the blueline tonight, led by Mikey Anderson’s two assists
Yes, some of their assists were long, even out of our end, sending pucks out to the neutral zone which is I think really important against this type of team and then in the zone they move the puck around wildly. We struggled to score and some of that has to do with the demons, lack of involvement. But tonight it was good.

McLellan added that Blake Lizotte is “doubtful” to play tomorrow in Dallas, after he left today’s game with a lower-body injury. McLellan added that the Kings should get a better look at the injury when the team returns to California on Wednesday.

Notes –
– Alex Laferriere (1-0=1) scored his sixth goal of the season and first career game-winning goal. Laferriere has now recorded points in back-to-back games for the second time this season and is his first career road point streak (2GP, 1-1=2).
– Phillip Danault (1-2=3) extended his point streak to five games (2-5=7) as part of his 14th career three-plus point game. Danault’s current streak is tied for the third-longest point streak of his career, trailing only two separate seven game runs (Apr. 7–Apr. 21, 2022; Dec. 17–Dec. 31, 2022). Danault’s trio of points marked his 25th, 26th and 27th (9-18=27) of the campaign, becoming the sixth Kings skater to reach the 25-point mark. Only Carolina (8) and Dallas (8) have more skaters with 25 or more points.
– Trevor Moore (2-0=2) registered his 19th and 20th goals of the season, including his second shorthanded tally this year, to become the first Kings skater to hit the 20-goal mark this campaign.
Moore (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) is the first California-born player in NHL history to score 20 goals in a season with a California-based team. Only Sam Reinhart (18), Artemi Panarin (15) and Sidney Crosby (15) have scored more road goals this season than Moore’s 14.
– Pierre-Luc Dubois (1-1=1) recorded his fourth multi-point game of the season, including his second goal in as many games (1-0=1 on Jan. 13 at DET).
– Vladislav Gavrikov (0-2=2) picked a pair of assists for his third multi-point performance as an LA King. Gavrikov has now collected points in back-to-back games against the Hurricanes (1G, Oct. 14, 2023) sits six points (21-73=94) shy of becoming the seventh defenseman from the 2015 NHL Draft to record 100 career points.
– Mikey Anderson (0-2=2) notched his 12th and 13th assists of the season for his second multi-point game on the year.
– Matt Roy (0-2=2) tallied his 10th and 11th assists of the season for his first multi-point effort of the season. The Kings now have 11 skaters with at least 10 assists, behind only the Winnipeg Jets (13), Dallas Stars (12) and Carolina Hurricanes (12) with the most such skaters in the league this season.
– Jaret Anderson-Dolan (0-1=1) recorded his third assist of the season.
– David Rittich stopped 30 of 32 shots faced to pick up his third win of the season and improve his record to 3-0-1.
– The Kings scored four goals in a single period for the third time this season: 4G in P1 on Oct. 19 at MIN and 4G in P1 on Nov. 18 vs. STL.

The Kings will not hold a morning skate tomorrow in Dallas, considering the back-to-back. The group will return to the ice tomorrow at 5 PM Pacific, 7 PM local, in Texas.

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