The Los Angeles Kings ended their 4 game losing streak with a strong 3-1 victory over the New Jersey Devils.
For the Devils, it was their 5th straight loss at home, and 2nd loss to the Kings this season. They previously fell 4-2 in Los Angeles on November 19.
It was a big game for milestones within the Los Angeles organization. Darryl Sutter finally got his win to move past Jacques Lemaire for 12th place all time in career regular season victories with 618.
Anze Kopitar played in his 806th game with the Kings, moving past Rob Blake for 5th all time in franchise history.
Nic Dowd was scratched again with his lower body injury. Matt Greene was also scratched with a back injury. The other scratch for the Kings was Tom Gilbert.
Beau Bennett was scratched for the Devils with a lower body injury. The other scratches for New Jersey were Devante Smith-Pelly and Seth Helgeson.
The game had plenty of early action. Adam Henrique was shaken up just seconds into the game, and had to go into the locker room to get examined. He returned to the bench promptly, though.
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Paul Quincy went to the box 41 seconds into the 1st period for holding Jordan Nolan. Just a few seconds into the ensuing power play, Kopitar put the Kings on the board with a goal 50 seconds into the period. Jeff Carter and Drew Doughty got the assists.
In the offensive zone less than a minute later, Carter chipped the puck to Tanner Pearson in front of the net, and Pearson buried it past Corey Schneider to make the game 2-0 at 1:46. Devin Setoguchi got the other assist.
Trevor Lewis tripped Pavel Zacha at 5:31, resulting in a penalty. The Kings comfortably killed off the resulting power play.
Los Angeles seemed very eager to go to that penalty box early on. Lewis was again sent off for boarding Quincy at 8:11. Kopitar then put the Kings at a 5-on-3 disadvantage at 8:27 for hooking Kyle Palmieri.
The Devils had numerous opportunities, but Peter Budaj made some incredible saves to send the Kings back to even strength without surrendering any goals.
John Merrill went to the box at 14:14 for interference of Carter. Near the end of the power play, Alec Martinez got a shot on net, and off the rebound on another attempt by Marian Gaborik, Martinez poked in the goal at 16:15, a second after the penalty expired. Nick Shore got the other assist.
The Kings were in complete control of the game after the 1st period, taking a commanding 3-0 lead into the intermission.
Schneider was swapped out for Keith Kincaid after a rough first period where he saved just 9 of 12 shots against him.
Nolan took a penalty for delay of game at 6:14 into the period, but it gave the Kings another chance to flex their muscles on the penalty kill.
A scary moment also happened in the 2nd when Setoguchi was hit in the ear by the puck. He left the game, but managed to return later on.
The Devils slightly threatened in the 3rd period when Quincy got a goal at 7:19 on assists from former Kings player Mike Cammalleri and Miles Wood, but the only real impact it had was costing Budaj a shutout.
Cammalleri was actually the last player to lead Los Angeles in points during a season before Kopitar began his crazy streak of leading the team in points. Cammalleri had 80 points for the Kings back in 2006-2007.
This wasn’t a team performance the Devils should be particularly proud of. They committed 14 giveaways during the game, while the Kings committed just 1.
The shot totals were even at 25. The Kings converted on 1 of their 2 power play opportunities, while the Devils went 0 of 4 on the man advantage.
Next: Los Angeles Kings Could Really Use a Successful Road Trip
The Kings will continue their road trip against the Carolina Hurricanes on January 26 before they host the All Star festivities this weekend. The Devils will stay at home and play the Washington Capitals on January 26.