Adrian Kempe’s second goal Sunday, a short-handed tally late in the third, gave the visiting Los Angeles Kings a 2-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
At 1-1, a turnover by Pittsburgh’s Lars Eller led to a Kings two-on-one. Kempe kept the puck and, from the right dot, shot the puck between the pads of Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry with 3:10 left in regulation.
The Kings have won three in row and five of six.
Los Angeles goaltender Cam Talbot got his first win since Dec. 23, making 29 saves.
Sidney Crosby scored for the Penguins, who have lost four of five.
Jarry picked up his third straight loss, making 31 saves.
Both teams had their pregame routine altered as the players were on the benches for an extended ceremony to retire former Pittsburgh superstar winger Jaromir Jagr’s No. 68.
Jagr, 52, then joined the current Penguins team — all wearing No. 68 jerseys and many wearing mullet wigs reminiscent of Jagr’s early-career look – for the pregame warmup skate, culminating in Jagr taking a couple solo laps and saluting the fans at center ice.
Crosby’s 31st goal gave the Penguins a 1-0 lead at 18:43 of the first, five seconds into a power play.
On a faceoff to Talbot’s right, Crosby won the draw to linemate Bryan Rust. He fed it to Erik Karlsson at the left point. Karlsson walked the puck to the center point, then fed Crosby high in the right circle for a blast of a one-timer inside the far post.
After a scoreless second, Jarry preserved Pittsburgh’s lead in the opening two minutes of the third with a blocker save on a point-blank shot by the Kings’ Pierre-Luc Dubois.
Kempe, just after coming onto the ice, tied it at 13:49 of the third. From the right point, he one-time a feed from Drew Doughty at the opposite point. The puck nicked the skate of Pittsburgh’s Rickard Rakell, changing the trajectory just enough to allow the puck to squeak between Jarry’s pads.
–Field Level Media
