Hurricanes at Kings
Los Angeles Kings forward Dustin Brown told reporters that the team learned a great deal from their recent four-game losing skid, and now they are schooling the competition. Winners of a season-high seven in a row, the Kings look to complete a perfect three-game homestand on Saturday when they host the Carolina Hurricanes.
"In general, you learn more from losing than you do from winning. I said that about teams before we won (Stanley) Cups. We had to lose a lot to understand what it took to win," Brown said. The 33-year-old scored and set up a goal for the second time during his three-game point streak in Thursday's 4-3 triumph over Ottawa. While Los Angeles is relishing winning, Carolina has headed in the other direction with losses in six of its last eight contests overall and four straight on the road, including the first two of its season-high six-game trek. "We just need to create more opportunities," said left wing Sebastian Aho, who scored twice within a five-minute span of the first period Thursday in a 5-4 overtime setback at San Jose. "We have to play better. We need to go back to work and play our game for 60 minutes."
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, FSN Carolinas, FSN West (Los Angeles)
ABOUT THE HURRICANES (11-10-6): Jeff Skinner scored his second goal in four outings on Thursday and has nine points (four goals, five assists) in his last 13 games. The 25-year-old is on the cusp of moving up on a pair of the franchise's all-time lists, as he sits two goals shy of passing Pat Verbeek (192) for seventh place and is one point short of passing Sami Kapanen (348) for 12th place. Derek Ryan, who scored twice last season versus the Kings, has five points (one goal, four assists) in his last seven games.
ABOUT THE KINGS (19-8-3): Defenseman Drew Doughty helped Los Angeles overcome a late regulation goal from the Senators by increasing his point total to 10 (one goal, nine assists) in his last eight games by scoring 32 seconds into overtime. "We just don't give up, whether we're down, whether we're up, we're trying to play the same way,” the 2016 Norris Trophy winner said. "When we were losing games, we were up and down. When we would score we would get too high and we're trying to stay level, and I think we're doing a great job of that and that's why we're winning." A few key statistics might also help Doughty's case, as the Kings are averaging 3.06 goals per game this season while ranking first in goals-against (2.20) and penalty-killing percentage (89.0).
OVERTIME
1. Los Angeles has won eight of its last 10 home games versus Carolina.
2. The Hurricanes have been outscored 11-3 in the second period in their last eight contests.
3. The Kings will bid for their first eight-game win streak since Feb. 7-24, 2015.