The Los Angeles Kings and Carolina Hurricanes had vastly different reactions to the overtime road games they played on Saturday.
There’s little time for either team to dwell on the bad or the good as they’re set to meet Sunday afternoon in Raleigh, N.C.
Carolina’s point streak was stretched to seven games, but the Hurricanes couldn’t protect a three-goal lead and lost 4-3 in overtime to the Washington Capitals.
Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour found little good in how his team played, even while it held a lead. So, he’s anticipating a response with proper intentions against the Kings.
“You can’t get any worse than that,” he said. “You just move on. We have a game (Sunday), and we should have a good answer for that, hopefully.”
The Kings are concluding their scheduled six-game road trip, though an outing at Columbus was postponed. Los Angeles is 3-1-0 on the trip.
The Kings claimed a 3-2 overtime victory against Philadelphia on Quinton Byfield’s goal on Saturday afternoon.
Los Angeles coach Jim Hiller said Byfield should have more confidence in his shot because of results like that.
“You’d say to him, ‘Why don’t you always have that shot-first mindset?'” Hiller said. “‘Nice finish. Nice goal. Shoot the puck.'”
The Kings celebrated Drew Doughty becoming the first Los Angeles defenseman to reach 700 points. His 11th assist of the season came on the winning goal.
It wasn’t so rosy for Carolina after its overtime venture. The Hurricanes allowed 19 first-period shots — the most surrendered by the team in any period this season — and their coach didn’t think it got much better from there.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been a part of a 60-minute game where we were that bad,” Brind’Amour said. “Somehow, we managed a point. There is zero way we should have; they dominated us from the start.”
The Hurricanes also have earned points in seven straight home games (6-0-1). During this stretch, they’ve outscored their opponents 33-17 and have outshot the opposition 233-129.
Of course, nothing might match Carolina’s last home game when the Hurricanes became only the third team in NHL history — and the first since 1995 — to wipe out a two-goal deficit in the final two minutes and win in regulation. They did that Thursday night in a 5-4 comeback against the Utah Mammoth.
Los Angeles is 15-7-6 in road games.
Andrian Kempe had two goals for the Kings in regulation in Philadelphia. He skates on a line with Corey Perry and Alex Laferriere
“I thought they were dangerous, they have been,” Hiller said. “That’s why, in bringing (Anze Kopitar) back, we didn’t want to disrupt that line. I think Perry and Laferriere complement (Kempe) well.”
Hiller switched some other line combinations during the game.
The Kings could have Kopitar, a forward, in action for back-to-back games after he played for the first time since Jan. 5 on Saturday in Philadelphia. Kopitar missed 11 games with a lower-body injury.
Carolina captured a 4-3 overtime victory against the Kings on Oct. 18 at Los Angeles, with Seth Jarvis notching the winning goal. That marked the second victory for rookie goalie Brandon Bussi, who’s now 20-3-1 and expected to be in the net Sunday.
He set the NHL record for reaching 20 career victories in the fewest games against the Mammoth on Thursday.
–Field Level Media
