Kings score 4 in 3rd to defeat Hurricanes, stop 8-game slide

RALEIGH, N.C. -- The Los Angeles Kings scored three consecutive goals early in the third period and got their first win in nine games, 5-2 against the Carolina Hurricanes at PNC Arena on Monday.

Trevor Moore scored twice, Phillip Danault had a goal and two assists, and Pierre-Luc Dubois had a goal and an assist for the Kings (21-11-8), who were 0-4-4 in their previous eight. David Rittich made 30 saves, and Matt Roy, Mikey Anderson and Vladislav Gavrikov each had two assists.

“I think relief is a word you would hear from a lot of guys,” Los Angeles coach Todd McLellan said. “But I would rather choose reward because we did do a lot of things the right way, and we have on this trip. That’s a good sign for us. A lot of energy and emotion went into that game for us.”

Jordan Martinook and Jack Drury scored for the Hurricanes (24-14-5), whose eight-game point streak ended (7-0-1). Antti Raanta allowed four goals on 24 shots before being relieved at 5:20 of the third by Yaniv Perets, who made one save in his NHL debut.

“We had a few bad shifts,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “Then it was boom, boom, boom, in the net and the game was over. That’s what happens when you play a good team. There wasn’t going to be much. We needed to capitalize on the ones we [had]. We didn’t.”

Moore gave Los Angeles a 1-0 lead at 6:24 of the first period, scoring from in close after Carolina failed to clear a rebound in the slot.

“It felt like we’ve been playing [well] in a lot of the games over the last stretch,” Moore said. “But we put the puck in the net tonight, which is huge. It feels good.”

Martinook tied it 1-1 at 5:38 of the second period. He scored on a one-timer from the right face-off circle off a feed from Seth Jarvis on the rush.

The Kings went ahead 2-1 at 1:01 of the third period when Danault got a rebound off the end boards and beat a diving Raanta at the left post.

“This team knows how to come back,” Dubois said. “There’s going to be adversity, and adversity is great for a team. Obviously you don’t want to lose eight in a row, but this is a resilient group."

Alex Laferriere pushed the lead to 3-1 at 2:21 on a wrist shot over Raanta’s glove.

Dubois made it 4-1 at 5:20, one-timing a Jaret Anderson-Dolan pass in the right circle and chasing Raanta.

“There wasn’t one key to what happened,” McLellan said. “[The goals] all came in different forms. I can’t say there was a trend or we made an adjustment. It was just playing the game. I thought we went to the net hard when there was stuff laying around, and we got rewarded for it.”

Drury cut it to 4-2 at 8:58 with a backhand in front off Stefan Noesen’s no-look, between-the-legs pass from behind the net.

“The jump coming out of the intermission wasn’t there,” Martinook said. “After that, I felt like we were pushing, but you’re almost out of it. Tough one, that’s for sure.”
 
Moore scored into an empty net at 18:44 for the 5-2 final.

“It wasn’t a terrible game,” Brind’Amour said. “It was just we had those couple lapses. That’s what it does in this league.”

NOTES: Kings forward Blake Lizotte left in the first period with a lower-body injury. McLellan said Lizotte is doubtful for the game at the Dallas Stars on Tuesday. … Rittich is 3-0-1 with a 1.61 goals-against average and .932 save percentage in five games (four starts) since being called up from Ontario of the American Hockey League on Dec. 15 after Pheonix Copley was injured in practice that day. Copley is out for the season (ACL surgery). … Martinook has a three-game goal streak (three goals).