Kings fall to Hurricanes, stay winless on road this season
The Carolina Hurricanes have finally figured out how to string some wins together.
The defending Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings are still working on getting their first on the road.
Elias Lindholm's second-period goal proved to be the difference in the Hurricanes' 3-2 victory over the Kings on Sunday.
The Hurricanes (2-6-2) won for the second straight day after dropping their first eight games.
Los Angeles fell to 0-3-2 on the road, a stark contrast to its 6-1 start at home.
"It's not great, that's for sure," said center Anze Kopitar, who returned after missing three games because of an upper body injury. "We've got to pull it together and figure out what we've got to do for the next game and get ready for it."
The Kings will play at Dallas on Tuesday in the final game of a five-game trip. Los Angeles coach Darryl Sutter said his team's scoring difficulty has been the key to the skid.
"We've had trouble scoring, so just about every mistake you make is magnified," Sutter said. "We weren't chasing the game. I thought we played a really good game."
Kopitar had a late scoring chance but was unable to make the play against Carolina's Cam Ward, who made 30 saves to win for the second straight day.
"When you face adversity, you've got to step up your game," Ward said. "Getting the penalty kill late in the game was obviously the key."
Getting back home was good for the Hurricanes, who lost five times on a recent road trip.
Carolina captain Eric Staal said the team is finally getting comfortable with the system first-year coach Bill Peters wants them to play.
"We have to keep working on this process that we're on and get better," Staal said. "It takes some adjustment, and being healthy is the key. We have that and now we have that work ethic and balance out of four lines."
Carolina's depth showed as Victor Rask and Chris Terry also scored for the Hurricanes.
"By trade, they're goal scorers," Peters said. "They scored at the American League level, they have skill. They're coming into their own a little bit right in front of our eyes. I thought that line was very good."
Mike Richards and Alec Martinez had goals for Los Angeles.
Rask gave the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead with 1:34 left in the first period off a nifty pass by Chris Terry. Just 50 seconds into the middle period on the power play, Terry fired in a one-timer from the right wing to make it 2-0.
Richards cut the Kings' deficit in half when he scored at 5:39 of the second.
Lindholm's shot through a screen at 16:01 restored Carolina's two-goal lead. Lindholm scored for the third time in two days after netting a pair of goals in Saturday's home win over Arizona.
Jonathan Quick stopped 29 shots for the Kings.
Both teams scored power-play goals. Carolina went 1-for-4 with the advantage, and Los Angeles was 1-for-3.
NOTES: Carolina RW Alexander Semin was a healthy scratch for the second straight game. ... Los Angeles C Jordan Nolan served the first game of a two-game suspension for a boarding penalty on Detroit's Darren Helm on Friday.
