Kings have found ways to win without goals from Tyler Toffoli, Jeff Carter
Kings center Jeff Carter celebrates a goal by left wing Milan Lucic (not pictured) against the New York Islanders.
Yes, the Kings can win a game in which Tyler Toffoli and Jeff Carter are prevented from scoring.
In fact, it happened twice in the span of three days, a 2-1 win against the Islanders on Thursday and a 4-3 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday night at Staples Center.
But the latter, in some ways, was more impressive with more and balanced scoring. The Kings got some heavy lifting from non-Toffoli and non-Carter sources: a combined five points from wingers Tanner Pearson (one goal, two assists) and Marian Gaborik (one goal, one assist), plus the game-winner from center Nick Shore in the final two minutes.
Of course, Toffoli and Carter weren’t exactly silent, each contributing one assist.
The Kings held on against the Oilers as Edmonton rallied from a two-goal deficit to tie it late in the third period before Shore delivered the first game-winning goal of his career with a determined effort from the slot. It was his second goal of the season and first since the season opener on Oct. 7.
Of the Kings’ 11 wins this season, six have been by a margin of one goal, including a 3-2 win at Edmonton on Oct. 25.
Of Saturday’s effort, Gaborik acknowledged that it wasn’t “the best game we played,” especially against a divisional opponent.
Said Pearson: “I think we took our foot off the gas pedal in the second period.”
Now comes a serious test with five games on the road before Thanksgiving, starting in Philadelphia on Tuesday.
The Kings are 11-6-0 and have played a mere five games on the road. Kings Coach Darryl Sutter hasn’t been thrilled with the longer breaks in the home-heavy schedule.
“I did not like it. I wouldn’t mind playing every other day like that, but we had way too many two days and three days in between breaks here,” he said. “When you lose a game, you lose your edge a little bit. When you win, have trouble getting in game mode again.
“That was evident lots of times. If you look at the times we had three days between games we did not play well in that game coming back.”
Twitter: @reallisa
Times staff writer Helene Elliott contributed to this report.
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