Petersen makes 35 saves in Kings win against Flames

LOS ANGELES -- Cal Petersen made 35 saves, and the Los Angeles Kings ended their season-long five-game losing streak with a 5-3 win against the Calgary Flames at Staples Center on Wednesday.

It was Petersen's first victory of the season with Los Angeles (20-33-5), which hadn't won in regulation since Jan. 9 (5-2 at the Vegas Golden Knights). The Kings are 3-12-1 in their past 16 games.
Petersen was recalled from Ontario of the American Hockey League after goalie Jack Campbell was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Feb. 5.
"I really just wanted to play strong for the guys, start to establish some confidence with me in net, and I think getting this win definitely helps," Petersen said.
WATCH: [All Flames vs. Kings highlights]
Ten forwards had at least one point for Los Angeles, which scored seven goals during its losing streak.
"Throughout the lineup, everybody found a way," Kings coach Todd McLellan said. "Every line almost found a way to get on the scoresheet, so when you can do that and put four [goals] up, you have a really good chance of winning in this league."
Elias Lindholm scored twice and extended his point streak to eight games for Calgary (29-23-6), which had won its previous two games, both on the road. David Rittich made 28 saves.
"At the end of the day, I thought some of the turnovers and things in the neutral zone came back to haunt us," Flames coach Geoff Ward said. "At this time of year, we've got to make sure you get the puck in behind and keep going."
The Kings scored two goals 29 seconds apart in the second period. Tyler Toffoli's 15th of the season tied the game 1-1 at 12:21, and Austin Wagner ended a 22-game goal drought on a 2-on-0 breakaway at 13:00 to make it 2-1.

Mikael Backlund gave the Flames a 1-0 lead 11:37 of the second period after Petersen misplayed the puck behind his own net.
Petersen said the immediate response by his teammates was critical in moving forward.
"We kind of had that fluky goal, and I think that was kind of a turning point in the game where the guys were able to get back and score two quick ones," Petersen said. "I don't even think they announced the goal for the other team before we had two on the board, and I think that really flipped the momentum because those are the kind of fluky goals that can sometimes put teams on their heels. Credit to all the guys for turning around and turning it into an advantage."
Kurtis MacDermid gave the Kings a 3-1 lead with a wrist shot at 1:42 of the third period, but Lindholm quickly responded to make it 3-2 at 3:25.

The Flames failed to score on a 5-on-3 power play for 1:03, and Jeff Carter made it 4-2 at 15:12.
"The bottom line is you want to make the goaltender make saves and get trapped, and I thought we were almost trying to be too deliberate with it instead of playing a little bit of catch, firing it, getting to it on the walkout," Ward said.
Lindholm scored again to make it 4-3 at 16:55 with Rittich off for an extra attacker, but Sean Walker scored an empty-net goal with three seconds left for the 5-3 final.

They said it

"All four goals [against] was kind of our own doing as far as turning the puck over, and they were able to pounce on it and get a goal. Other than that, we played a good game; we created a lot of chances, the power play was so good for us the last two games, [but it] wasn't able to get one [for] us here tonight. If you look at it, that's the difference." -- Flames forward Milan Lucic
"Cal was awesome tonight. He was making some huge saves when we needed him. We just kept it simple and did all the little things right at the end and it worked out for us." -- Kings defenseman Kurtis MacDermid on goalie Cal Petersen

Need to know

Flames defenseman Alexander Yelesin made his NHL debut and had two shots on goal and two hits in 10:59. … Lindholm has nine points (four goals, five assists) during his point streak. … Flames forward Johnny Gaudreau had two assists; he has five in his past three games. … Calgary forward Matthew Tkachuk had an assist to extend his point streak to four games (two goals, two assists). … Kings center Anze Kopitar had two assists for his 13th multipoint game this season. … It was Wagner's first goal since Dec. 14. … Los Angeles forward Martin Frk had an assist after being recalled from the AHL on Wednesday. He has four points (three goals, one assist) in five NHL games this season.

What's next

Flames: At the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday (10 p.m. ET; FS-W, SNW, NHL.TV)
Kings: At the Colorado Avalanche in the 2020 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series at Falcon Stadium on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; NBC, SN360, TVAS2, AFN|sports2, NHL.TV)