Saturday night’s game between the host Carolina Hurricanes and the Los Angeles Kings in Raleigh, N.C., features two teams going in opposite directions.
The Hurricanes have won six of their last seven and the Kings have lost eight of their last 10.
Carolina defeated the visiting Chicago Blackhawks 3-2 on Thursday night, and star winger Mikko Rantanen scored his first goal for Carolina in his third game with his new team.
The surprise blockbuster deal with the Colorado Avalanche and the Blackhawks last Friday netted the Hurricanes Rantanen and Taylor Hall and sent Martin Necas and Jack Drury to the Avalanche.
“It’s going to take a little bit more time to get fully comfortable with everything on the ice (so) it comes with instinct and no thinking at all, which was better (Thursday),” Rantanen said. “I think we could have had a couple more goals there. But a lot of good players around me, so I’m happy.”
His goal gave Carolina a 2-1 lead 4:52 into the second period. It was Rantanen’s 26th goal of the season to go along with 40 assists for 66 points, which is among the league’s top 10 scorers, in 52 games.
Seth Jarvis (short-handed) and defenseman Jaccob Slavin also scored for Carolina and Pyotr Kochetkov made 18 saves.
Hall and top-line center Sebastian Aho did not play on Thursday because of illnesses.
Ryan Suzuki made his NHL debut for the Hurricanes. Suzuki was Carolina’s first-round pick (28th overall) in the 2019 NHL Draft. He was plus-1 in 6:12 of ice time.
The Kings have been shut out in two consecutive games after losing to the host Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday night and are 0-3-1 in their last four.
They lost by the same 3-0 score at the Florida Panthers on Wednesday night and have gone 162:55 without a goal, dating back to the first period of their 5-2 loss at the Detroit Red Wings on Monday night. And that was an own goal by Detroit defenseman Moritz Seider, credited to Quinton Byfield.
Byfield appeared to score in the second period Thursday, but video review determined the play was offside and the goal was overturned.
“You’ve got to keep on going, really,” Kings captain Anze Kopitar said. “We do have chances, but for whatever reason the pucks are not going in. It’s very hard, obviously mentally, when you’re not scoring and losing tight games.
“It ends up being 3-0 (Thursday), but it was tighter than the score. We’ve got to find a way. That’s the bottom line. There’s no other way to put it.”
Los Angeles has mustered only 19 goals in its last 12 games.
“I don’t think our confidence is there right now,” defenseman Jordan Spence said. “Obviously we have some chances to score some goals; we’re not capitalizing on our chances. At the end of the day, we’re not playing well right now. We just have to reset … and get ready for the Carolina Hurricanes.”
David Rittich made 30 saves on Thursday.
Defenseman Mikey Anderson left the game in the first period with what appeared to be a hand injury. Coach Jim Hiller called it “concerning.”
–Field Level Media
