Kevin Fiala and Phillip Daneault scored power-play goals 6:54 apart in the second period as the Los Angeles Kings extended their home winning streak to seven games and their team-record home points streak to 15 with a 3-1 victory over the New York Rangers on Tuesday night.
The Kings joined the Washington Capitals as the second team this season with a home point streak of at least 15 games. Los Angeles is 12-0-3 since its last regulation home loss on Jan. 20 against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Los Angeles (40-21-9, 89 points) scored multiple power-play goals for the second time this season and moved two points ahead of the Edmonton Oilers for second place in the Pacific Division. The Kings also remained five points behind the Vegas Golden Knights for the division lead.
The Kings also won their fourth straight and their ninth in 10 games overall (9-1-0) since dropping five straight Feb. 26 to March 5.
J.T. Miller scored for the Rangers (34-32-6, 74 points), who lost for the fifth time in six games and remained one point behind the Montreal Canadiens for the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. New York also has the same point total as the New York Islanders, who have two games in hand.
Fiala added an empty-net goal with 15 seconds left on a delayed penalty for his fifth multi-goal game this season.
Los Angeles goalie Darcy Kuemper made 22 saves. New York’s Igor Shesterkin stopped 30 shots.
After getting two shots on goal in the opening period, the Rangers took a 1-0 lead 2:10 into the second when Miller gathered a rebound of Alexis Lafreniere’s shot from behind the net and the puck trickled under Kuemper. Play continued as officials did not originally award him a goal but at the next stoppage officials in the situation room determined the puck crossed the goal line off Kuemper’s right skate.
Following a slashing penalty to Matt Rempe, the Kings tied it with 9:06 remaining. As the Kings cycled the puck, Fiala went to the net, was left alone at the left side of the net and re-directed Andrei Kuzmenko’s perfect pass into the vacated net.
The Kings took a 2-1 lead when Daneault got the rebound of Trevor Moore’s shot in the lower edge of the right circle. He used his skate to gather the puck and whipped a wrist shot past a sprawling Shesterkin.
–Field Level Media
