Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Jesper Fast both had a goal and an assist, and the Carolina Hurricanes weren’t bothered again by using a restructured lineup, beating the visiting Los Angeles Kings 5-1 on Saturday night in Raleigh, N.C.
Brett Pesce, Teuvo Teravainen and Jack Drury also scored for the Hurricanes, who are missing more than a half-dozen regulars because of COVID protocols. Brady Skjei assisted on two goals.
Goalie Frederik Andersen made 32 saves to improve to 10-1-3 all-time against the Kings.
The Hurricanes have won six of their last seven games.
Trailing 4-0, Blake Lizotte scored for the Kings with 4:27 remaining in the second period.
Jonathan Quick stopped 28 shots for Los Angeles. Quick hadn’t lost a regulation decision in his past six outings (4-0-2).
The Kings had a four-game points streak snapped as they had gone 3-0-1 in those games.
Earlier in the day, the Hurricanes learned that Sunday’s slated home game vs. the Nashville Predators has been postponed because of Nashville’s COVID issues and Tuesday night’s game at Boston is off. Carolina won’t have another home game until Dec. 27.
Kotkaniemi, who appeared in his 200th NHL game, and Fast scored for Carolina just 37 seconds and 1:36, respectively, into the game. Fast’s goal came on a power play.
Pesce’s goal came on a delivery from near the blue line, with the puck making it through traffic. Teravainen’s goal made it 4-0 before the midway mark of the second period.
Lizotte, who was in his second game since a five-game absence in the COVID protocol, finally broke through against Andersen.
Drury has two goals in two NHL games after scoring Thursday night against the Detroit Red Wings in his debut.
The Hurricanes swept the two-game season series from Los Angeles.
Kings goalie Cal Petersen was added to the COVID list earlier Saturday. Jacob Ingham from the Greenville Swamp Rabbits of the ECHL arrived to serve as the backup, but he wasn’t used in the game.
–Field Level Media
