The Los Angeles Kings carry an eight-game point streak into Saturday night’s game against the visiting Philadelphia Flyers, but the hosts don’t necessarily have a home-ice advantage.
It will be the third game in four nights for Los Angeles, which is a perfect 7-0-0 on the road this season but has managed just one win in six games (1-2-3) at Crypto.com Arena. That’s one fewer home win than the woeful San Jose Sharks.
“I don’t put lot of credence into the home-and-road thing yet,” Kings coach Todd McLellan said.
The Kings come in off a 4-3 overtime loss to Pittsburgh at home on Thursday. It was the second game of a back-to-back that started in Las Vegas on Wednesday with an impressive 4-1 victory over the defending Stanley Cup champion Golden Knights.
“Obviously maybe the engine wasn’t the same as it was last night,” said forward Adrian Kempe, who extended his point streak to eight games with a second-period goal, after Thursday’s game. “We still played a good enough game to win. I think maybe we turned the puck over a little bit too much.”
Bryan Rust scored on a wraparound goal with 1:15 left in overtime to win it for Pittsburgh and snap a four-game win streak for the Kings.
“You’re not going to be at your best for 82 games,” McLellan said. “There’s going to be your best game and your worst game in 82, doesn’t matter if you win or lose. I don’t know where this one will fit in, but you have to find ways to scratch and claw points out of those nights, and at least we got one tonight.”
The Kings are 6-0-2 during their eight-game point streak, including a 5-0 shutout of the Flyers last Saturday in Philadelphia when Cam Talbot made 24 saves for his 29th career shutout. Arthur Kaliyev and Trevor Moore both chipped in with a goal and an assist.
The Flyers followed that game with a 2-1 loss at San Jose on Tuesday night, the first win in 12 games for the Sharks. Philadelphia bounced back on Friday with a 6-3 victory at Anaheim in the front end of the back-to-back as Sam Ersson made 35 saves and Owen Tippett scored twice.
Flyers coach John Tortorella, who coached in his 1,479th NHL game to tie Darryl Sutter for eighth place in league history, praised the work of Ersson in net. Carter Hart, the team’s No. 1 goalie who hasn’t played since Nov. 1 because of a lower back injury, originally was penciled in to start but was a late scratch after he came down with an illness.
“Tonight, he looked so much more calm,” Tortorella said of Ersson who improved to just 2-3-1 this season. “He was in position on a lot of pucks that hit him. I thought he had some good battles. They were in front of our net a lot tonight, too, and I thought he fought his way through it. So, this was certainly his best game that he’s played for us this year.”
Tortorella was asked after Friday’s game if he thought Hart, who is 4-3-0 with a 2.52 goals-against average and a .913 save percentage, would be available to play against the Kings on Saturday night.
“I have no idea,” Tortorella said. “I haven’t talked to Carter.”
–Field Level Media
