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Los Angeles, CA — The Los Angeles Kings (39-21-9) defeated the Boston Bruins (30-33-9) with an impressive 7-2 victory at Crypto.com Arena on Sunday, March 23.
With the victory, the Kings continue their latest winning record, beating eight of the nine opponents they’ve faced so far as they inch closer towards the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Notably in tonight’s victory, seven different Kings players scored goals for the team, Additionally, sixteen players registered points for LA, establishing a franchise record for the most players on a scoresheet. Their back-to-back blowout wins were also the first time the team has scored seven or more goals in consecutive games since 1995.
In the beginning of the first period, the Bruins drew first blood with a backhand goal by Boston center Elias Lindholm to start off the game, 1-0.
Not long after, LA Kings team captain and center Anze Kopitar flew down the left wing to tie the game for Los Angeles with a backhand shot of his own into the Boston net, 1-1. Kings left wing forward Warren Foegele followed up with another goal of his with a wrist shot off of a Phillip Danault pass to give the Kings their first lead of the night, 2-1.
Foegele’s goal also happened to be his 20th goal of the season, as well as his 100th goal made throughout his NHL career.
During the beginning of the second period, Boston tied the game as Bruins center Morgan Geekie was left all alone in front of the Kings goal, allowing him to outwait Darcy Kuemper and beat him to the glove side. As the period progressed, Los Angeles defenseman Drew Doughty fired a slap shot from the right circle and past Jeremy Swayman to once again give the Kings the lead 3-2.
Notably, throughout the second period while the Kings originally drew a penalty for tripping one of the Boston hockey players, the overall body language of the Bruins’ players began to get more heated and angry. Tempers flared up, and at one point LA Kings’ Darcy Kuemper and Boston Bruins’ Jeremy Swayman had inched closer and closer until a breaking point had nearly been reached. They were about to throw their gear down and fight, but at the last second the referees had stepped in to avoid such a thing.
Each team drew two penalties from this incident, but this became nothing more than a close call.
The Kings’ newest winger, Andrei Kuzmenko scored an insurance goal t late in the period to increase the lead to 4-2. For Kuzmenko, that’s goals in back to back games and 3 points in two nights. He had previously gone scoreless in the seven games since LA acquired him.
Boston never recovered afterward.
Once the third period rolled around, the Kings blew open the floodgates when Quinton Byfield continued his hot streak with a wrist shot to extend the LA lead to 5-2. The fourth line joined the frenzy to cap the scoring for the Kings as Tanner Jeannot and Samuel Helenius put the game completely out of reach..
With this victory, the Kings take that momentum with them as they face the New York Rangers on Tuesday, March 25.
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