At long last, the Los Angeles Kings have won a hockey game in 2024.
Trevor Moore scored two goals and Phillip Danault added a goal and two assists as the Kings defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 5-2 Monday afternoon, snapping an eight-game losing streak. It was LA’s first win since December 27.
Moore opened the scoring at 6:24 of the first period. It was his team-leading 19th goal of the season, while Danault picked up his 17th assist.
Carolina tied it on a goal by Jordan Martinook in the second. However, the Kings scored three goals in the first 5:20 of the third period to take a 4-1 lead. After Jack Drury got the Hurricanes within two goals with 11:02 left to play, Moore iced the game with an empty-netter, his 20th goal on the year.
Kings goaltender David Rittich stopped 30 of the 32 shots that he faced. Hurricanes netminder Antti Raanta, on the other hand, did not have his best afternoon, allowing four goals on just 24 shots on net.
“Huge,” Moore said when asked about snapping the losing streak. “It felt like we kinda had been playing like that a lot of the games over the last stretch, but we put pucks in the net tonight.”
“It feels good.”
LA came into the game having dropped eight consecutive contests, including four in a row in the Eastern time zone. As it turns out, the ninth time was the charm.
Carolina, on the other hand, entered the day having won seven of its past eight games. Monday was the Hurricanes’ first non-shootout loss since December 23.
“We have to keep playing a good, sound defensive game,” Moore said. “It hasn’t been perfect over the stretch by any means. But I think that we’ve done good things, and we got rewarded tonight.”
The Kings will conclude their six-game road trip Tuesday evening in Dallas with a matchup against the Stars. They will then return home to Crypto.com Arena for a four-game home stand, beginning Thursday night against the Nashville Predators.
The Hurricanes, meanwhile, were playing their fourth of six consecutive home games. They will resume their home stand on Friday night in Raleigh against the Detroit Red Wings.
