Danault’s hat trick keys Kings victory
Coming off their best performance of the season, a 5-1 road victory over the Pacific Division-leading Vancouver Canucks, the Kings opened a five-game homestand on Sunday in search of consistency.
For the second game in a row, they were excellent.
A hat trick from Phillip Danault, his first as a King, plus a goal by Alex Lafferriere and power-play conversion courtesy of Kevin Fialia lifted the Kings to their second consecutive 5-1 win as they toppled the New Jersey Devils at Crypto. com Arena.
The Devils scored first, taking advantage of a crazy carrom off the glass to snatch the lead 15 seconds after the puck dropped.
An attempted clearance from Quinton Byfield kicked nearly 90 degrees to the left, landing in front of Nico Hirschier. The Devils center dished it forward a few feet to Timo Meier, who swept in a backhand above Cam Talbot’s right shoulder for a 1-0 lead.
That was as good as it got for the Devils (30-27-4, 64 points) over the next 59 minutes and 45 seconds.
“Nobody panicked,” Kings interim head coach Jim Hiller said. “We just kind of started fresh, 0-0, and we were able to dig ourselves out of that.”
Talbot, in his third straight start, saved the next 30 shots he faced to improve to 18-14-5 on the season.
“We talked about coming home and establishing our game on the road back here,” Talbot said. “Obviously this is a big homestand
LOS ANGELES »
for us. I thought we did a heck of a job bringing that game from Vancouver back here, really locking it down defensively and capitalizing on our chances offensively as well.”
The Kings caught a break to tie the game when Anze Kopitar skated into a referee in the New Jersey zone and headed to the bench as play shifted to the opposite side of the rink.
Replacing the Kings captain on the ice, Danault moved alone toward the visitor’s blue line, where he received a terrific pass by Fiala from deep in the defensive zone.
“Heads up play by Kevin,” Danault said. “A great pass and good play all around.”
Danault charged toward the Devils goaltender, Nico Daws, unleashing a wrist shot at 7:56.
The game-winning goal belonged to Chatham, N.J., native Alex Laferriere, who put his favorite team growing up behind at 14:49 of the opening period with help from Pierre-Luc Dubois.
The big-bodied Dubois regained the puck twice against the boards before his 14th assist set up Laferriere’s ninth goal of the season, a wrist shot from the top of the right circle that snuck past Daws.
The matinee starting the Kings’ longest homestand of the season marked the second career appearance against the Devils for Laferriere, drafted 83rd overall by the Kings in 2020, following a 2-1 road win at the Prudential Center in Newark on Feb. 15.
The Kings pushed their advantage to 4-1 in quick succession prior to the second intermission.
In the 12th minute Trevor Moore intercepted a pass in the defensive zone, booked up the center of the ice and got sandwiched by a pair of
Devils. Kings defenseman Matt Roy trailed the play and put the puck on his stick before feeding it to Danault, who tucked it in at the far post.
Six seconds later, the Kings went on the powerplay and Fiala’s 19th goal (his sixth in seven games) was facilitated by the dynamic duo of Kopitar and Drew Doughty.
Working near the Devils net, Kopitar fed Fiala in the left circle and the forward zipped a perfect wrist shot into the upper corner at 12:57.
After combining twice in Vancouver, the Fiala finish marked the 300th time that the Doughty-Kopitar connection factored in an NHL goal.
The two-time Stanley Cup winners are the third forward-defenseman pairing to hit that milestone. They need six to tie Boston’s Phil Esposito and Bobby Orr. Another
THE SCORE
KINGS 5, DEVILS 1
Up next: Canucks at Kings, Tuesday, 7:30p.m., BSW
SUMMARY
New Jersey Kings
First Period:
1, New Jersey, Meier 13 (Hischier), 0:15. 2, KIngs, Danault 12 (Gavrikov, Fiala), 7:56. 3, KIngs, Laferriere 9 (Dubois), 14:49. Penalties: Palat, NJ (Tripping), 1:06. Moverare, LA (Holding), 4:15.
4, KIngs, Danault 13 (Roy, Moore), 12:23. 5, Kings, Fiala 19 (Kopitar, Doughty), 12:57 (pp). Penalties: Doughty, LA (Interference), 9:12. Marino, NJ (Tripping), 12:29.
6, Kingss, Danault 14 (Moore, Fiala), 17:47 (en). Penalties: Bahl, NJ (Hooking), 8:53.
New Jersey 11-6-14: 31. Kings 7-9-7: 23.
Second Period:
Third Period:
Shots on goal:
Power-play opportunities:
of 2. KIngs 1 of 3.
New Jersey, Schmid 5-8-1 (9 shots-9 saves), New Jersey, Daws 8-10-0 (13-9). KIngs, Talbot 18-14-5 (31-30). 18,145 (18,230). T: 2:28.
Trevor Hanson, Graham Skilliter. Linesmen: Caleb Apperson, Ryan Gibbons.
Goalies:
A: Referees: 1 2 0 2 0 — 1 1 — 5
New Jersey 0
50 would equal Edmonton’s Wayne Gretzky and Paul Coffey.
Danault’s third goal, an empty-net finish at 17:47, came on yet another lengthof-the-ice play, giving him 15 this season.
“There were a lot of hats that came down tonight,” Hiller said about Danault, who had not scored a goal at home this season. “It was really good for him. The guys were happy for him.”
Assisting on the play, Fiala’s second straight threepoint effort gives him eight points in his last three appearances.
“We’re playing for each other,” Fiala said. “We love each other. You can really feel it right now.”
The result lifted the Kings (31-19-10, 72 points) to two games above .500 at home for the first time this season as a redemption-seeking Vancouver squad visits Tuesday.
WESTERN CONFERENCE
PACIFIC DIVISION
Vancouver Edmonton Vegas KIngs Calgary Seattle Ducks
San Jose
CENTRAL DIVISION
Winnipeg Dallas Colorado Nashville St. Louis Minnesota Arizona Chicago
GP W
63 59 61 60 60 60 61 60 39 37 33 31 30 26 22 15
GP W
60 39 63 37 62 37 62 35 60 31 62 29 61 25 61 15
L OT Pts GF GA
17 20 21 19 25 23 36 39 7 2 7 10 5 11 3 6 85 224 176 76 212 172 73 198 179 72 188 162 65 189 187 63 166 171 47 162 216 36 129 235
L OT Pts GF GA
16 17 20 25 26 27 31 41 5 83 187 144 9 83 225 190 5 79 227 194 2 72 199 190 3 65 174 186 6 64 194 208 5 55 180 201 5 35 125 218
EASTERN CONFERENCE
ATLANTIC DIVISION
Florida Boston Toronto Detroit Tampa Bay Buffalo Montreal Ottawa
METROPOLITAN DIVISION
N.Y. Rangers Carolina Philadelphia N.Y. Islanders Washington New Jersey Pittsburgh Columbus
GP W
61 62 60 61 63 62 61 59
GP W
61 61 62 60 60 61 59 60
Sunday’s results
L OT Pts GF GA
Vancouver 2, Ducks 1 Kings5, New Jersey 1 Winnipeg 5, Buffalo 2 Minnesota 4, San Jose 3 Arizona 5, Washington 2 Edmonton 6, Pittsburgh 1
Today’s games
41 35 35 33 33 29 23 25 40 36 32 26 28 30 27 20
L OT Pts GF GA
16 13 17 22 24 29 28 31 17 19 23 20 23 27 24 30 4 14 8 6 6 4 10 3 4 6 7 14 9 4 8 10 86 202 145 84 208 174 78 224 190 72 216 195 72 214 213 62 183 187 56 173 219 53 195 212 84 204 168 78 201 172 71 189 184 66 180 201 65 160 193 64 202 214 62 174 166 50 178 220
Boston at Toronto, 4 p.m. Florida at N.Y. Rangers, 4 p.m. St. Louis at Philadelphia, 4 p.m. Vegas at Columbus, 4 p.m. Chicago at Colorado, 6 p.m. Seattle at Calgary, 6:30 p.m.