Bruins Drop Sixth Straight with Loss to L.A.

LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Kings extended their home point streak to a franchise record 14 games with a 7-2 win against the Boston Bruins at Crypto.com Arena on Sunday.

The Kings are 11-0-3 during the point streak, including six straight wins. They have also won eight of their past nine overall.

“It’s impressive," Los Angeles coach Jim Hiller said. "That one, I think, we share with everybody, with our fans, with the city."

Quinton Byfield and Tanner Jeannot each had a goal and an assist, and Adrian Kempe, Joel Edmundson and Brandt Clarke each had two assists for the Kings (39-21-9), who moved into a tie with the Edmonton Oilers for second in the Pacific Division with one game in hand. Darcy Kuemper made 11 saves.

Los Angeles, which was coming off a 7-2 win against the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday, has scored seven goals in consecutive days for just the third time in its history. It also accomplished the feat on Dec. 20-21, 1988, and Nov. 13-14, 1987.

“You’re really seeing guys dig in and, you know, seeing everyone get rewarded on the score sheet. So, hopefully that can continue with the stretch (run) coming up here,” Kings forward Warren Foegele said. “But it feels good to see everyone contribute, and on top of that, get the wins.”

Elias Lindholm and Morgan Geekie scored, and Jeremy Swayman made 16 saves for the Bruins (30-33-9), who are 0-5-1 in their past six games.

Boston is six points behind the Montreal Canadiens, who have three games in hand, for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.

“I wish I knew (how to end this losing streak),” Bruins center Casey Mittelstadt said. “I think it comes down to just coming out and playing hard. Obviously, you get in a slump like this and maybe you’re gripping your stick a little more than normal. It comes down to just coming out and playing your game, playing with some poise and some calm.”

Lindholm scored 19 seconds into the game to put Boston ahead 1-0. Left all alone in the low slot, he took a centering pass from Cole Koepke, moved the puck to his backhand and slid it past Kuemper, who was moving the other way.

Anze Kopitar tied it 1-1 at 2:43. After breaking the puck out from their own zone, Kopitar took a cross-ice pass from Kempe as he got behind the defense and scored with his backhand on a breakaway.

Foegele put Los Angeles ahead 2-1 at 19:31 with his 100th NHL goal in his 500th career game. He buried a one-timer near the right post off a backhand cross-crease pass from Phillip Danault.

“It’s pretty special,” Foegele said. “I think when you really think about it, it comes with so many people that have helped me kind of reach this milestone. ... Behind every player, there’s a lot of special people that help us get into this position, and it’s pretty cool to sit back and reflect.”

Geekie tied it 2-2 at 2:07 of the second period. Pavel Zacha stole the puck from Foegele at the blue line and passed down low to a wide-open Geekie, who avoided the poke check from Kuemper before lifting a wrist shot over the goalie's glove.

Los Angeles regained the lead at 8:46 on Drew Doughty’s slap shot from the right circle.

Andrei Kuzmenko then made it 4-2 at 17:38 with a one-timer from the right circle after Kempe chased down Jordan Spence’s intentional icing.

Byfield pushed it to 5-2 at 4:05 of the third period, scoring off the rush with a wrist shot from the edge of the left circle. It was his seventh straight home game with a goal, which is tied for the third-longest streak in Kings history, behind Luc Robitaille (12 games) and Jari Kurri (nine).

“He’s such a big, powerful skater, great mind, but I think the biggest thing is probably confidence,” Foegele said of Byfield. “You’re seeing him shoot the puck a lot more than maybe at the beginning of the year, and when he’s going, you know, he adds another threat to this team, and especially being down the middle as well.”

Jeannot redirected Clarke’s shot from the right point at 9:20 to make it 6-2, and Samuel Helenius scored with a wrist shot from the left circle at 16:03 for the 7-2 final.

“The start of the third, we came out a little flat and they jumped on us," Mittelstadt said. "It seems like a repetitive theme, so something we definitely got to focus in on getting fixed."