Kotkaniemi, Fast propel Hurricanes in win against Kings

RALEIGH, N.C. --Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Jesper Fast each had a goal and an assist for the Carolina Hurricanes in a 5-1 win against the Los Angeles Kings at PNC Arena on Saturday.

Frederik Andersen made 32 saves, and Brady Skjei had two assists for the Hurricanes (21-7-1), who have won six of their past seven games.
Carolina was without six skaters for the second straight game, including leading scorer Sebastian Aho, due to NHL COVID-19 protocol. The Hurricanes defeated the Detroit Red Wings 5-3 on Thursday with 10 forwards and played Saturday with five forwards who were recalled from Chicago of the American Hockey League.
"Being 100 percent honest, coming into these two games, if you would have said we would have come out with two victories this way, I would have said, 'That's big time,'" coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "I just think guys were working really hard. Kudos to all the guys who came in because they all contributed and did a great job."

Blake Lizotte scored for the Kings (13-11-5), who are 1-1-1 on a four-game road trip. Jonathan Quick made 28 saves; he was 4-0-2 in his previous six starts.
"What didn't [Carolina] do well?" Los Angeles coach Todd McLellan said. "They were quicker, harder, faster, more determined."
The Hurricanes jumped to a 1-0 lead 37 seconds into the first period. Quick made a save on Skjei's shot from the slot, but Kotkaniemi scored on the rebound after Quick couldn't secure the puck under his left pad.
"I felt I had a good angle over there," Kotkaniemi said. "I'm probably the only guy who saw the puck there, so it was pretty easy to tap that in."
Fast scored 59 seconds later when redirected Jaccob Slavin's shot for a power-play goal at 1:36 to make it 2-0.
"You try to put it out of your mind and battle, but it's definitely an uphill battle when you're down 2-0," Lizotte said. "It kind of seems like the bounces don't go your way when you're down that quick. It's a tough way to start the game."

Brett Pesce's shot through traffic from the right point gave the Hurricanes a 3-0 lead at 2:38 of the second.
Teuvo Teravainen took a pass from Tony DeAngelo and scored a power-play goal at 9:36 to make it 4-0.
Lizotte cut it to 4-1 with a wrist shot from the left face-off circle at 15:33.
Jack Drury scored his second goal in his second NHL game at 14:29 of the third period for the 5-1 final.
"All the guys who have come up from Chicago, I think we've molded in nicely and just tried to help the team win," Drury said. "I feel like we were ready to compete today, and I think everyone bought in."
McLellan gave credit to Carolina's reinforcements. Josh Leivo had the primary assist on Pesce's goal for his first point with the Hurricanes in his third game, and Andrew Poturalski assisted on Fast's goal for his second assist in his second NHL game this season.
"If you're in the NHL, you belong here," McLellan said. "They're veteran players, they're a little bit older, they're leading the American league in scoring. The frustrating part isn't that those 'tweeners' were here and playing, the frustrating part was what we didn't do."
NOTES:Andersen made 13 saves in the first period. … Hurricanes center Martin Necas left the game with an upper-body injury after a hit along the boards by Kings defenseman Sean Durzi at 9:26 of the first period. ... Kings goalie Cal Petersen was placed in NHL COVID-19 protocol before the game. Jacob Ingham was recalled from Greenville of the ECHL and served as Quick's backup. … Lizotte has one goal and one assist in two games since his return from COVID-19 protocol … Kotkaniemi, who played his 200th NHL game, has one goal and four assists during a three-game point streak. … The Hurricanes are 14-for-14 on the penalty kill in the past five games.