Kings, facing Carolina Hurricanes, aim to build on power-play success

RALEIGH, N.C. — Finally, the Kings caught an alleged break in the schedule.

Of course, flying cross-country does not exactly qualify as a restful day. They open a four-game trip here Friday night against the Carolina Hurricanes before moving on to play Florida, Tampa Bay and Nashville.

“It’s a long ways to fly, and play, in the National Hockey League,” Kings Coach Darryl Sutter said on Wednesday.

OK, then, how about calling it an equalizer?

Translation: It is not often the Kings are in town before the host team. The Hurricanes played at Washington on Thursday and the Kings arrived here early Thursday evening.

By the end of this trip, the Kings will have played six of their first eight games on the road. It gets better after that with five of the next six at home. They played only four of their first 15 games at home in last season’s lockout-shortened season.

Their last game at home before this trip was a 4-3 overtime win against the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday night. Three of the Kings’ four goals came on the power play. Two came from Jeff Carter, including the game-winner.

Kings captain Dustin Brown said afterward that the power plays were “huge” against the Senators, adding: “That’s what we need from our power play — to step up at big times. The important thing is to build on it now. We’ve got to continue to do that.”

Heading into Thursday night’s action, the Kings’ power play was ranked seventh in the NHL, going five for 16. They did not score a power-play goal until the fifth game last season, going 0 for 23 in the first four games.

Of the 10 goals scored by the Kings this season, three have been scored in five-on-five situations.

“We drew penalties that allowed us to score goals five on five. I’m not too caught up in that,” Sutter said. “We’ve scored enough to win every game.”

THURSDAY NIGHT

KINGS AT CAROLINA

When: 4.

Where: PNC Arena.

On the air: TV: FS West; Radio: 1150.

Record vs. Hurricanes (2012-13): Did not play.

Etc.: There are more than a couple of familiar faces in the Carolina organization. Defenseman Tim Gleason played parts of two seasons for the Kings and enforcer Kevin Westgarth had his name engraved on the Stanley Cup with the Kings. He did not appear in the playoffs in the run to the Cup in 2012 but played in 25 regular-season games. Center Brett Sutter of the Hurricanes is Darryl Sutter’s son and he has been a regular in Carolina’s lineup this season.

lisa.dillman@latimes.com

Twitter: @reallisa