RECAP: Toffoli's 1st hat trick leads Kings over Flames 5-3
Tyler Toffoli scored in all three periods for his first NHL hat trick, Dwight King and Jordan Nolan broke open a tie game with third-period goals, and the Los Angeles Kings beat the Calgary Flames 5-3 on Thursday night.
Mason Raymond had two goals and David Jones also scored for the Flames, who had won their three previous meetings this season with the defending Stanley Cup champions â all by one-goal margins and two in overtime at Staples Center. Jonas Hiller gave up five goals on 40 shots on his 33rd birthday before he was replaced by Karri Ramo with 11:42 remaining and Calgary trailing 5-2.
The Kings, returning from a 2-3 road trip that ended with back-to-back wins over Tampa Bay at Columbus, outshot the Flames 19-4 in the second period and tied the score 2-2 on Toffoli's second goal of the game just 15.2 seconds before intermission. Jeff Carter, who had three assists, earned his 500th NHL point on the play.
Trix on you pic.twitter.com/11y5FZpWtz
— LA Kings (@LAKings) February 13, 2015
Toffoli opened the scoring 3:16 in, using Carter as a screen and beating Hiller to the stick side with a 25-foot wrist shot. He completed the Kings' first hat trick of the season on a breakaway with 11:42 remaining. Toffoli has a team-high 18 goals, and six in seven games after missing the previous six because of mononucleosis.
Jones and Raymond scored 32 seconds apart early in the second to put the Flames ahead 2-1. Jones redirected a shot by T.J. Brodie past Jonathan Quick just after Hiller stopped Carter on a short-handed breakaway.
Raymond then scored into a wide-open net right after teammate Curtis Glencross made contact with Quick at the edge of the crease. Referee Brad Meier ignored what could have been a goalie interference call; the frustrated Quick broke his stick while slamming it against the left post.
Quick then went to the bench for a replacement stick as Meier assessed an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty against him. That increased Quick's penalty-minutes total to 14 â two more than he had in his seven previous NHL seasons combined.
NOTES: Barry Melrose, the first coach to guide the Kings to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1993, was honored before the game as the club staged the first of three "Legends Night" ceremonies. ... The Kings beat the Flames in his first playoff series with them... Darryl Sutter, who won two Stanley Cups in his first three seasons as Kings head coach, tied Larry Robinson for fourth place on the franchise list with 233rd regular-season wins. ... The only other time Hiller played an NHL game on his birthday was in 2012, when he made 24 saves in Anaheim's 5-3 victory at Columbus. ... The Kings are 17-6-6 at home, and the 40 points are the most after 29 home games in club history. But they are 7-12-6 on the road. ... The Flames came in with 33 more third-period goals than their opponents, the best differential in the league.
