What we learned from the Kings’ 4-1 win over Winnipeg

Some extra insights and observations from Game 3 at Staples Center on Sunday, in which the Kings recorded their first victory of the season. They applied the pressure early, kept it on and prevented a repeat of Saturday’s slip-up at Arizona.

Bring some popcorn to watch Jeff Carter and the kids

The stats are what you might expect after the high-flying line of Tanner Pearson-Jeff Carter-Tyler Toffoli rolled through the Jets. They combined for six points and a plus-minus rating of plus-eight on Sunday night.

In fact, they are a plus-14 in the last two games, responsible for all but one of the Kings’ goals this season. Going forward, their dominance will draw continued attention with the byproduct of opening things up for the other lines. In fact, the ice time among the forwards was fairly balanced against the Jets.

Pearson’s two goals this season have both been unassisted.

Here’s another semi-meaningless statistic to ponder: Of his three goals in the regular season and four in the playoffs last season, none were unassisted.

Goalie Martin Jones is a machine

Or so says his teammate Toffoli.

“That guy does it all,” Toffoli said.

The observations came after Toffoli was asked if anything really gets to Jones. Or maybe it just seems that way.

“He’s played like that every game, I think, that we’ve played him,” Kings Coach Darryl Sutter said. “That’s the same way that he plays.”

Ability to exploit ‘soft’ part of the schedule

Over the weekend, the Kings picked up three of a possible four points against non-playoff teams from last season, the Arizona Coyotes and the Jets.

Another team from that category is up next at Staples Center on Tuesday, the Edmonton Oilers.

Following that, the schedule gets significantly more difficult. St. Louis on Thursday and Minnesota on Sunday, both games at home against Western Conference opponents. The Wild, along with the Sharks, were the first teams to record back-to-back shutouts in the opening two games since Florida in 2005, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

It’s just another indication of the depth in the Western Conference.

“You look at some of the moves the Western teams made this year – it’s pretty big,” Pearson said. “We have our hands full this year.”