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The Los Angeles Kings wrapped up their seven-game homestand with a win, defeating the Pittsburgh Penguins 6-2 tonight.
Samuel Fagemo made his debut for the Kings, while tonight also marked Jeff Carter’s first game back in Los Angeles, after he was dealt to the Penguins last season.
It was an entertaining opening frame which saw some really good opportunities exchanged. Kris Letang opened the scoring on a bit of a strange goal roughly five minutes in, throwing the puck on net from behind the goal line and banking it in off Jonathan Quick’s pad. However, once again the Kings had a fairly good first frame overall, responding with some good chances. Los Angeles tied the game when Kasperi Kapenen turned the puck over in a terrible spot and Anze Kopitar’s shot was deflected and found its way in, sending the teams to intermission tied 1-1.
The Kings had a huge second period, generating a lot of offense and were the better team in the frame by far. However, it took until about 15 minutes into the period for the Kings to manage to take the lead, as Dustin Brown slid a rebound past Jarry on a power play. Despite outshooting the Penguins 20-8 in the frame though, Los Angeles only managed to bury the one goal and it remained 2-1 after 40 minutes.
The third period got off to a wild start. The Penguins tied the game under two minutes into the frame, as Teddy Blueger got a great pass to Radim Zohorna in front and he managed to put a shot past Quick. However, Mikey Anderson got the Kings their lead back in a hurry, beating Jarry with a shot through traffic just 90 seconds later.
Then right after that, Trevor Moore took a stretch pass off the boards after the Kings won the faceoff and got a great pass to Viktor Arvidsson, who put the puck past Jarry to extend the lead, just 10 seconds after Anderson’s goal. It was a wild turn of events and Los Angeles had a 4-2 lead. However, the Kings only continued after that, as Alex Iafallo got a pass in front of the net and put it the puck right to Anze Kopitar who buried it, as the Kings went up 5-2 with three goals in 83 seconds.
The teams traded some chances through most of the remainder of the frame, but with 1:40 left, Sean Durzi scored with a shot from the point, marking his third point of the night and securing a 6-2 win for the Kings.
It was a great game for the Kings against a strong opponent. Trevor Moore continued his hot streak with another two assists, while Anze Kopitar had his first multi-goal game since the season opener. Once again, also credit to Jonathan Quick for making some key saves when it mattered, especially early on.
Another cool note about the game - Aisha Visram is believed to have become the first woman to work behind a bench during a regular season NHL game tonight. Visram works as the head athletic trainer with the AHL's Ontario Reign and was with the Kings tonight after multiple team staff members entered COVID protocol.
So Los Angeles won five of seven games on their homestand and have moved up to seventh in the Western Conference in points percentage. They’ve been nothing short of excellent through the recent stretch and hopefully the Kings can continue with this momentum, as they play their first road game in close to a month against the Seattle Kraken on Saturday.
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OTHER ARTICLES FROM JANUARY
Kings continue to build momentum, beat Flyers 6-3
Kings' comeback falls short against Predators
Kings dominate early, shut out Red Wings
Kings hire Marc Bergevin as senior advisor to GM
Kings continue to climb standings with win over Rangers 
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