Faulk’s hat trick helps Hurricanes rip Kings
RALEIGH, N.C. — Justin Faulk had his first career hat trick, Jeff Skinner scored twice, and the Carolina Hurricanes routed the short-handed Los Angeles Kings 7-3 on Tuesday night.
Faulk’s three goals came in a span of 12:21 as Carolina raced out to a 5-0 lead and he became the 10th defenseman in NHL history to score a natural hat trick.
Jacob Slavin and Sebastian Aho also scored for the Hurricanes, who won their third straight and finished their eight-game homestand 5-2-1. Cam Ward made 27 saves.
Slavin opened the scoring 6:40 into the game and Faulk scored just over two minutes later. He scored again on a slap shot in the waning minutes of the first period, and completed his hat trick with another slap shot 1:17 into the second period.
Anze Kopitar, Tyler Toffoli, and Torrey Mitchell scored for Los Angeles, which was without key forwards Dustin Brown (suspension) and Trevor Lewis (injury). Jonathan Quick saved 16 of 20 shots before being pulled following Faulk’s third goal.
Carolina outshot Los Angeles 41-30 and was in control from the outset.
The Hurricanes outshot the Kings 18-3 in the first period. The result was a 3-0 edge at the first intermission.
They piled on in the second. Faulk reached his hat trick with a slapper on the power play from the left point that beat Quick — his second straight power play goal — to make it 4-0, and the Kings netminder skated to the bench as hats rained onto the ice at PNC Arena.
Ryan O’Reilly scored a goal and added two assists in the Buffalo Sabres’ win over the Eastern Conferenceleading Tampa Bay Lightning. Backup Chad Johnson stopped 26 shots to pick up just his fourth win and first in nine home appearances this season. Jake Guentzel scored twice, Zach Aston-Reese scored his first two NHL goals and the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Ottawa Senators. Evgeni Malkin scored his 31st and Kris Letang his fourth for the Penguins, who have won seven of nine and 12 of their last 16.
Patrice Bergeron and Riley Nash scored two goals apiece, helping the Boston Bruins beat the Calgary Flames. David Backes had two assists for the Bruins, who won for the sixth time in seven games and won’t play at home again for two weeks. Dylan Larkin and Frans Nielsen scored in the first two periods and the Detroit Red held off the Anaheim Ducks. Adam Henrique pulled Anaheim within a goal with 3:54 left in the game. The Ducks pulled John Gibson with a minute remaining in regulation to have an extra skater, but couldn’t score to extend the game. Travis Hall scored twice in regulation, Drew Stafford had the only tally in the shootout and the New Jersey Devils snapped a four-game losing streak with a victory over the Philadelphia Flyers. Defenseman Tyler Myers scored 3:35 into overtime as the Winnipeg Jets came back from a two-goal deficit to beat the Washington Capitals. Mark Scheifele sent a pass back to Myers, who quickly fired the puck past Braden Holtby for his sixth goal of the season.
Devan Dubnyk made 32 saves, and Minnesota’s three-goal advantage held up for the third straight game as the Wild beat the New York Rangers. Eric Staal, Zach Parise and Marcus Foligno all scored in the first 6:17 for the Wild, who ran their home point streak to a franchise-record 13 games (10-0-3). Filip Forsberg scored on a penalty shot at 1:19 of overtime to give the Nashville Predators a wild comeback victory over the St. Louis Blues. After trailing by three goals entering the third period, Nashville rallied for three goals in the span of 6:42 to tie it and force overtime.