Kuemper makes 33 saves, Kings shut out Devils

LOS ANGELES -- Darcy Kuemper made 33 saves for the Los Angeles Kings in a 3-0 win against the New Jersey Devils at Crypto.com Arena on Wednesday.

It was the second shutout of the season for Kuemper and the 33rd of his NHL career.

"Shutouts usually take a whole team. It's a team stat, really," Kuemper said. "It takes everybody, and we had everyone tonight."

Andre Lee scored his first NHL goal for the Kings (22-10-5), who have won eight straight at home. Quinton Byfield and Adrian Kempe also scored, and Mikey Anderson had two assists.

"He couldn't wipe the smile off his face," Kings coach Jim Hiller said of Lee.

Los Angeles has won three straight coming out of the Christmas break and is 11-2-2 in its last 15 games.

Jake Allen made 21 saves for the Devils (24-14-3), who have lost three straight in regulation for the first time this season.

New Jersey was coming off a 3-2 loss at the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday.

"It was obviously a good bounce-back game from what we had yesterday, but we've obviously got to find a way to score," New Jersey forward Stefan Noesen said.

The Kings took a 1-0 lead at 6:23 of the second period.

Los Angeles defenseman Jordan Spence lofted a pass from his own end that bounced near the New Jersey blue line. Lee was a stride ahead of Devils defenseman Brett Pesce and held him off before banking the puck off the bottom of the crossbar for his first goal in his 19th NHL game.

"It was a dream," Lee said. "Good pass from (Spence) there, flipped it up in the air, and just got it past him and put it in the back of the net. But, yeah, great feeling."

Timo Meier appeared to score for the second consecutive game to tie it 1-1 at 12:06 of the second, but the Kings challenged for goalie interference on Noesen and the goal was waved off following a review by the Situation Room.

"Once I saw it, I had a pretty good sense that they would challenge it, and it's one of those that can really go either way, depending on how they want to interpret it at that time," Devils coach Sheldon Keefe said. "There's a bump there and, usually, those ones don't go your way."

Shortly after exiting the penalty box, Byfield extended the lead to 2-0 at 11:01 of the third period after receiving a lead pass from Phillip Danault and scoring over Allen's glove from the left circle.

"Nice touch by Phil," Hiller said. "He put it in the right spot and, sometimes, 'Q' likes to over-handle the puck, and what I liked about that is it was on his stick, off his stick."

Kempe scored into an empty net with 4:25 remaining for the 3-0 final.

Kings forward Alex Turcotte received a four-minute major high-sticking penalty with 2:37 remaining and the Devils pulled Allen for the extra skater, but Los Angeles preserved the shutout.

"Maybe ran out of gas a bit there in the third period but there's a lot to like about the game here today," Keefe said. "Certainly in comparison to yesterday."

NOTES: The Devils and Kings are tied for the third-best goals-against average in the NHL at 2.54. ... New Jersey went 0-for-6 on the power play and is 0-for-10 in the past three games. ... The Kings were outshot 14-8 in the scoreless first period, the most shots on goal they've allowed in the opening period this season. ... The Kings have scored 15 goals into an empty net this season, five by Kempe. ... Lee was one of two forwards on the fourth line in the 11-defensemen, seven-forward lineup. ... Los Angeles forward Anze Kopitar was called for his first penalty of the season when he held Luke Hughes at 12:01 of the first ... The Devils have allowed two goals or fewer an NHL-leading 22 times this season and the Kings are second with 20. ... Kuemper is 5-0-2 in his past seven games. ... Warren Foegele assisted on Kempe's goal to give him eight points (three goals, five assists) in his past six games. ... Byfield has seven points (five goals, two assists) in his past six games. .... Kempe has five points (two goals, three assists) in his past four games. ... Kuemper moved into sole possession of eighth place among active NHL goalies in shutouts.