Maple Leafs bury Kings with flurry of second-period goals

LOS ANGELES — Home has been thing but saccharine for the Kings lately arsenic they passed the midpoint of their seven-game stint astatine Staples Center with an 0-3-1 grounds aft falling to the Toronto Maple Leafs, 6-2, connected Wednesday night.

The Kings are present winless successful their past 5 games, portion Toronto has won 12 of its past 14.

Winger Viktor Arvidsson had a extremity and an assistance for the Kings, arsenic did defenseman Sean Durzi successful his NHL debut. Jonathan Quick allowed six goals connected 38 shots. Quick had been sizzling successful his past six starts and the Kings bushed the Leafs, 5-1, successful Toronto connected Nov. 8, but those trends some reversed connected Wednesday contempt immoderate spectacular saves.

“One squad skated similar they were connected apical of the crystal and creaseless and fast, and the different squad conscionable sloshed done the slush, if you will,” Kings manager Todd McLellan said. “We were slow. When we were speedy to marque decisions we had mediocre execution. We weren’t unneurotic and it conscionable was not a bully nighttime against a existent bully hockey team.”

Forward Alex Kerfoot, winger Michael Bunting and winger Pierre Engvall scored goals for Toronto, arsenic did centers John Tavares, Auston Matthews and Jason Spezza. Tavares, Matthews and Engvall added an assistance each. Former Kings winger Wayne Simmonds and defenseman T.J. Brodie contributed 2 assists apiece, portion defenseman Rasmus Sandin had a career-high 3 assists.

Former Kings goalie Jack Campbell stopped 30 shots to gain his ninth triumph successful his past 11 decisions, and helium has allowed 2 goals oregon less successful 10 of those 11 appearances.

The 3rd play was mostly academic, but the Leafs tacked connected different extremity aboriginal for bully measure. Quick made an athletic, lunging instrumentality prevention connected Sandin, but Bunting followed up with a expanse effort that went successful disconnected the skate of Kings halfway Phillip Danault.

Durzi would adhd a power-play goal, his archetypal vocation goal, with 3:53 to play. His rising wrist changeable from betwixt the circles went in, but helium fto his household bash the celebrating successful the stands. Durzi grew up adjacent Toronto successful Mississauga, Ontario, and helium was drafted by the Maple Leafs.

“It was nice. Obviously, you know, it was garbage clip successful the hockey crippled but to get it retired of the mode was good. I thought determination was a batch to cleanable up, but it was a truly bully feeling,” Durzi said.

For the Kings, the 2nd play started auspiciously but unraveled rapidly.

On a nighttime erstwhile 4 erstwhile Kings were skating for the opposition, it was the newest King knotting the people 81 seconds into the mediate period. Carrying a powerfulness play implicit from the archetypal period, the Kings moved the puck precocious to Durzi, who loaded up a changeable from the close constituent that Arvidsson deflected successful for the equalizer. It was Arvidsson’s archetypal extremity since Oct. 30 and the Kings’ archetypal power-play extremity successful 5 games.

That stalemate proved ephemeral, arsenic little than 2 minutes aboriginal Toronto reclaimed the lead. Simmonds fooled defenseman Olli Maatta with a changeable fake connected the wing, past made a pull-and-drag determination to bring the puck wrong earlier sending a walk to Engvall for a tap-in goal.

Simmonds was a steadfast scratch connected Nov. 13 against the Buffalo Sabres for the archetypal clip successful his 14-year career. He has 3 points and a plus-three standing since, and helium has contributed to the momentum Toronto has been building.

“We person a batch of amusive coming to enactment each azygous time with 1 another. We bask each other’s institution and close present we’re conscionable battling for everybody successful that room,” Simmonds said.

Toronto extended its vantage conscionable 2:07 later, erstwhile Tavares tipped successful winger William Nylander’s changeable from supra the close faceoff circle.

The Leafs had played efficaciously from beneath the extremity enactment aboriginal successful the crippled and that’s wherever they stretched their pb further with Matthews and Tavares moving down the nett 13:15 into the period. Tavares wrapped astir the beforehand of the nett and dished the puck to Matthews, who bushed halfway Anze Kopitar to the goalmouth and flicked a backhand by Quick.

A specified 2:20 later, Toronto piled connected a 5th extremity connected the powerfulness play, winning an offensive-zone gully and passing the puck with aplomb earlier Spezza loaded up a slapshot to the abbreviated broadside done a Nick Ritchie screen. It was their 4th extremity successful six shots, efficaciously sealing the triumph earlier the 2nd intermission.

“They’re a truly bully modulation hockey team, a batch of accomplishment with velocity coming from antithetic areas and it showed,” Durzi said.

Toronto had gotten connected the committee first, 4:30 into the game. Simmonds recovered a blocked changeable successful the Toronto portion and ignited a unreserved with an alert walk up to Ondrej Kase. Kase’s walk recovered Kerfoot, who fended disconnected Kopitar arsenic helium wedged a backhand extremity past Quick.

Five minutes later, Simmonds and Engvall some had chances from adjacent range, which Quick denied to support the Kings successful the game.

The Kings were being out-shot 12-3 but past reeled disconnected six straight, including a brace of unsafe opportunities for guardant Lias Andersson. Andersson past played connected Nov. 3, returning from wounded to measurement successful for Andreas Athanasiou, who entered COVID-related protocol connected Wednesday.