Cam Talbot leads Kings to win over Maple Leafs
Cam Talbot made 30 saves as the Kings beat Toronto 4-1 on Tuesday night in a game in which Maple Leafs winger William Nylander extended his season-opening point streak to a franchise record nine games.
Talbot improved to 4-2-1 in his first season with the Kings after signing a one-year, $2-million contract as a free agent after an injury-plagued season with the Ottawa Senators limited the 36-year-old to 36 games last season.
“I never take a day for granted here,” Talbot said. “At this point in my career, all I wanted to do was get an opportunity to show that I can still play and still battle for starts.
“When I’m healthy, I feel like I’m gonna be at the top of my game like that.”
Adrian Kempe, Phillip Danault, Arthur Kaliyev and Andreas Englund scored for the Kings. Quinton Byfield added two assists.
Joining the Kings, Talbot was reunited with head coach Todd McLellan, who was behind the bench for all four of his seasons with the Edmonton Oilers from 2015-16 through 2018-19.
“Very competitive,” McLellan said of his netminder. “He’s a little longer in the tooth like some of us, but he takes care of himself so well that he can play — and play a lot. He’s hungry.”
John Tavares scored for Toronto, which was coming off a 3-1-1 trip that finished with a 3-2 overtime loss to the Nashville Predators on Saturday. Joseph Woll stopped 23 shots.
With an assist on Tavares’ goal, Nylander passed former Maple Leafs Frank Mahovlich (1961-62), Lanny McDonald (1976-77) and John Anderson (1982-83) who had eight-game point streaks.
“Every team goes through times during the year where you have a difficult schedule,” Tavares said. “With the type of team that we have, we have to recognize and understand how you have to fight through that.”
New NHLPA executive director Marty Walsh understands how an entrenched commissioner beloved by owners will pose challenges for him.
The Kings, who entered averaging an NHL-leading 4.38 goals, opened the scoring at 6:38 of the first period when Englund’s shot went in off the stick of Toronto defenseman Mark Giordano. It was the journeyman’s first goal in his 89th game.
Los Angeles doubled its lead at 11:40 when former Maple Leafs winger Trevor Moore spun away from Timothy Liljegren down low and found Danault near the net for his second goal of the season.
Woll robbed Kaliyev five minutes into the second, but the Kings forward scored on a power play at 9:46 when he settled a bouncing puck and scored.
Kevin Fiala fed Kaliyev to become the third Kings player in the last 25 years to register an assist streak of at least eight games.
The Maple Leafs scored on a power play when Tavares ended Talbot’s shutout bid with his fifth at 8:25 of the third.
Later in the third, Toronto defenseman John Klingberg turned the puck over on a sequence and Kempe scored his third at 12:13.
Next up for Talbot and the Kings is a Thursday game at Ottawa.
“Being injured three separate times, and out of training camp … it was tough to jell with the new team,” Talbot said of the Senators. “But that’s a great group over there. You meet a lot of guys throughout your career that you’re going to be friends with, and that group is no different.
“Look back on it fondly, but obviously I’m here now and looking forward to playing them.”
