Randy Jones, who was making his Kings debut,
scored the eventual game-winning goal early in the third period, as Los
Angeles scored three times in the final stanza to defeat the struggling
Carolina Hurricanes, 5-2, at RBC Center.
Jones, who also had an assist, was claimed off waivers from the Flyers on
October 29. Justin Williams, Wayne Simmonds and Ryan Smyth each had a goal
and an assist for the Kings, who snapped a two-game skid. Jarret Stoll added a
score for Los Angeles, which got 22 saves from Erik Ersberg.
"Jonesy had a good game. He comes in, he settles in right away. He's been
around the team now for a couple weeks so I think that really helps whenever
you can be around your teammates in the locker room, on the ice practicing,
and he has a good feel of what we do as a team...again he is a veteran he
steps in to the game and he is very comfortable," Los Angeles head coach Terry
Murray said.
Tuomo Ruutu scored twice for the Hurricanes, who extended their longest skid
in club history to 13 games. Manny Legace turned aside 26-of-30 shots in his
Carolina debut. Legace was signed to a one-year contract on Monday after
starting goaltender Cam Ward sustained a left leg laceration on Saturday in
Columbus. Ward was placed on injured reserve on Wednesday and is expected to
miss 3-to-4 weeks.
"We came back and fought hard to get back in to that game and took a penalty
then they scored a goal on it and now there isn't a lot of time left on the
clock for a team to come back...opened up a little bit but not a lot,
regardless if it is 2-2 we can't go to the box one way or other," Carolina
head coach Paul Maurice said.
With the score deadlocked at two, the Kings got set up on the power play.
Alexander Frolov controlled the disc at the top of the left circle and slid a
pass in front to the left side of the goal. Williams gathered the pass and
faked a shot before sliding the puck across the crease to Jones, who chipped
the disc into an empty half of the net.
Simmonds' goal with 9:55 remaining gave Los Angeles a 4-2 lead. Williams'
empty-net goal with 1:41 left accounted for the final margin.
Smyth's power-play goal at the 3:31 mark of the first gave the Kings an early
lead. Anze Kopitar slid a pass to the left side of the net for Dustin Brown,
who slid the disc off Smyth's skate. The puck trickled across the crease
before Smyth backhanded the disc into the net.
Carolina had only two shots after 20 minutes of action.
Los Angeles scored just 2:01 into the second to build a two-goal margin.
Jones' shot from the left point deflected off of Stoll's stick in front and
past Legace.
Ruutu's score with 4:35 to play in the second cut the deficit in half.
Rod Brind'Amour took a pass from Sergei Samsonov and entered the LA zone
before sliding a pass to right circle for Ruutu, who fired a shot off the left
post and into the net.
Carolina made it 2-2 on Ruutu's goal at the 4:03 mark of the third. Ray
Whitney collected the puck along the left boards before passing to Ruutu,
whose shot from the left circle beat Ersberg.
Game Notes
Legace was 13-9-2 with a 3.18 goals-against average in 29 games last year as
the backup in St. Louis...The Kings snapped a four-game losing streak to the
'Canes on October 17 of last year, posting a 4-3 overtime victory at
home...Since beating Florida on October 9, the Hurricanes have gone
0-10-3...Carolina forward Brind'Amour is tied with Kevin Dineen (294) for
second place on the franchise's assists list.
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