Hurricanes 2, Kings 1
Jeff Skinner scored to snap a tie early in the third period as the Carolina Hurricanes skated to a 2-1 home triumph over the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday.
Jiri Tlusty also tallied and Cam Ward turned aside 24 shots for Carolina, which improved to 8-2-1 in its last 11 home games.
With the contest tied at 1-1 just over three minutes into the third period, Skinner worked the puck along the boards before feeding Drayson Bowman behind the net. Bowman then fed Jussi Jokinen, whose shot was denied by Jonathan Bernier before Skinner cleaned up the rebound for his 15th goal of the season and third in five games.
Anze Kopitar netted his team-leading 16th goal and Bernier finished with 20 saves for Los Angeles, which has dropped the first two contests of its season-high six-game road trip.
With his team on the power play, Kopitar opened the scoring at 4:58 of the first period. Justin Williams fed Kopitar, who had slipped into the high slot before one-timing a shot past Ward. Kopitar has collected three goals and three assists in his last four games versus Carolina.
Tlusty leveled the contest at 1-1 with 4:20 left in the second period. Tlusty blocked defenseman Alec Martinez's shot at the blue line before skating in on Bernier. He then pulled up in the right faceoff circle and beat the netminder with a wrist shot for his 11th goal of the season.