Kings run into a Tampa team hotter than them
L.A.’s win streak ends against Lightning club that’s won 12 in a row at home, a team high.
TAMPA, Fla. — Brayden Point had a goal and an assist, and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Kings 5-2 on Saturday night for a franchise-record 12th consecutive home win.
Victor Hedman, PierreEdouard Bellemare, Corey Perry and Ross Colton also scored for Tampa Bay, which has won three in a row overall. Rookie defenseman
Nick Perbix had three assists, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 26 saves.
The Lightning surpassed the franchise mark of 11 straight home wins set in 2019-20 and defeated the Kings for the seventh straight time at Amalie Arena. The Lightning haven’t lost at home since Dec. 6.
“We get so motivated to play at home,” Colton said after the Lightning improved to 20-4-1 at Amalie Arena. “We have great fans and a great atmosphere.”
Tampa Bay swept a three-game homestand against Minnesota, Boston and L.A. to enter the All-Star break on an upswing.
“We played three tough teams — big, strong, fast playoff teams — and our guys handled it well,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “The only question was after the big win against the Bruins and the break coming up, how we would handle it.”
The Kings had won three in a row. Jaret AndersonDolan and Phillip Danault scored for them, and Jonathan Quick made 20 saves.
“We haven’t been able to put a game together for Quickie,” Kings captain Anze Kopitar. “He’s been very solid back there. It’s frustrating.”
Tampa Bay went ahead to stay with two goals in a 79second span in the first period.
“Communication in the [defensive] zone, giving up a lot of chances down the pipe.
We had to take away chances through the middle, and we didn’t at the start,” Kings forward Al Iafallo said. “When you don’t communicate, it leads to individual [mistakes]. As a whole, we didn’t get it done defensively.”