Dustin Brown scored twice as the Los Angeles Kings knocked off the Calgary Flames 3-1 and have the third-best record in the Western Conference. Jake Muzzin had a pair of assists in the win and Jarett Stoll had the other goal for the Kings. Mikael Backlund’s goal with 5:22 left broke up Johnathan Quick’s shutout bid.
SPIN: The Kings took down Calgary for the second time in three days for their 11th win in the last 14 games and have been tearing it up in the West. Their next five games, however, could be a different story. They play at Phoenix Tuesday night before a home-and-home with San Jose and hosting Phoenix twice…all in a week’s time. Phoenix and Los Angeles had a tough Western Conference Final last season so the Kings will be tested this week.
Calgary is at the bottom of the Western Conference standings but all is not lost as eight points separate the 11 other teams that aren’t leading divisions. Their schedule is a little more favorable (DET, NSH @DAL, @NSH, @CBJ, STL, @CHI, COL, CBJ) for the rest of the month but the time for the Flames to make their move is right now. If they’re still in the bottom three at the end of the month, I don’t think they’ll have much to play for in April.
Boston knocked off Ottawa 3-2 in the shootout. Guillame Latendresse and Kyle Turris staked Ottawa to a 2-0 lead in the game’s first 7:18. Boston came back with goals from Shawn Thornton and Daniel Paille to tie the game by the midway point of the second period. Chris Phillips assisted on both Ottawa goals.
SPIN: Tuukka Rask made 30 saves in the win as Boston improved to 17-3-3 and the Bruins have won 10 in a row in Ottawa. Robin Lehner made 33 saves in the losing effort. Turris scored for the first time in 21 games and Latendresse got his first of the season after missing 18 games recovering from whiplash. Neither has much fantasy value at this point of the season and would be rolls of the dice if you were going to entertain picking either of them up.
Multiple Goal Scorers
Brown-LA
Stat of the Night
LA swept the season series with Calgary for the first time in 13 years and just second time in franchise history.
Three Stars of the Night
1 Brown
2 Rask
3 Muzzin
Tuesday’s Games (all times ET)
NY Rangers at Buffalo 7pm The Rangers will try to send the Sabres to their fifth straight loss.
Carolina at Washington 7pm Carolina needs a win to keep some breathing room over Winnipeg in the division.
Vancouver at Columbus 7pm Vancouver has dropped four straight while Columbus has won five in a row.
Boston at Pittsburgh 730pm Both teams have plenty of offense and strong defenses.
Tampa Bay at Florida 730pm The Sunshine State has no sunshine in the standings. These are two of the bottom three teams in the East.
Toronto at Winnipeg 8pm The Jets could move into the eighth spot with a win.
Anaheim at Minnesota 8pm Division leaders collide in the Twin Cities.
San Jose at St. Louis 8pm These two teams hold the last two playoff spots, for now.
Nashville at Dallas 830pm Both teams are one game out of the playoffs right now.
Edmonton at Colorado 9pm Important game in trying to break up the Western logjam.
Los Angeles at Phoenix 10pm Rematch of last season’s Western Conference Finals.
