Devils Get Handed Their 3rd Straight Loss, Kings Shut Them Out 3-0

The Devils’ road trip to Los Angeles took a turn for the worse on Wednesday, January 1st, as they were shut out by the Kings 3-0 at Crypto.com Arena, extending their losing streak to three games and leaving them with a steep hill to climb. Jake Allen held the Devils in there, making a total of 21 saves for New Jersey. Darcy Kuemper stood tall between the pipes, stopping all 33 Devils shots for his second shutout of the season and the 33rd of his NHL career, leading the Los Angeles Kings to a 3-0 victory. With this shutout win, the Kings extended their winning streak to three straight games. Andre Lee scored his first NHL goal, Quinton Byfield, and Adrian Kempe each scored for Los Angeles to help collect the two points. The Devils head to San Jose on Saturday to take on the Sharks in search of snapping their losing streak, and the Kings host the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday.

New Jersey Devils Lineup:

Palat – Hughes – Bratt

Meier – Hischier – Noesen

Cotter – Haula – Mercer

Tatar – Lazar – Bastian

Dillon – Hamilton

Siegenthaler – Kovacevic

Hughes – Pesce

Allen

Markstrom

Los Angeles Kings Lineup:

Turcotte – Kopitar – Kempe

Foegele – Byfield – Jeannot

Fiala – Danault – Laferriere

Lee – Helenius

Anderson – Gavrikov

Edmundson – Clarke

Moverare – Spence

Burroughs

Kuemper

Rittich

After a scoreless opening 20, Andre Lee struck the game’s first goal to put Los Angeles ahead 1-0 with his first NHL career goal for the Kings. Lee found the back of the net early in the middle frame at 13:37 when a pass lofted by Jordan Spence bounced near the Devils’ blue line, and Lee drove up the ice to get ahold of it while being a stride ahead of Brett Pesce, holding him off before banking the puck off the bottom of the crossbar. Timo Meier appeared to score the first goal for New Jersey to tie it up with 7:54 on the clock in the middle frame, but the Kings had successfully challenged for goaltender interference on Stefan Noesen.

Quinton Byfield extended the Kings’ lead to 2-0 shortly after exiting the penalty box at 8:59 of the third for his ninth goal of the season and his fourth in the past five games. Phillip Danault, who had been along the left boards just below the Devils’ blue line, took a pass from Mikey Anderson, who fired it down from the Kings’ zone. Danault sent the puck to Byfield as he was skating up to the net, and he sent it over Jake Allen’s glove from the left circle. With an empty New Jersey net, Adrian Kempe struck the empty net with 4:25 left to play for the 3-0 final.

Notes:

– This was the Devils’ third straight loss in regulation for the first time this season.

– Tied for the third-best goals-against average in the NHL, the Devils are at 2.54.

– The Devils went 0-for-6 on the power play, and they’re 0-for-10 in the past three games.

– The Devils have let in two or fewer goals a League-leading 22 times this season, and the Los Angeles Kings are in second with 20.

– LA: 22-10-5, NJ: 24-14-3

– Andre Lee scored his first NHL career goal in his 19th game for the Los Angeles Kings… Mikey Anderson picked up a pair of assists. …In the 11-defensemen, 7-forward lineup – Lee was one of the two forwards on the fourth line.

– The Los Angeles Kings have won eight straight games at home, and coming out of Christmas break, they’ve won three, and are 11-2-2 in their last 15 games.

– In the first period, the LA Kings were outshot 14-8, which had been the most shots they’ve allowed in the opening period this season.

– This season, the Kings have scored 15 empty-net goals, five of those being struck by Adrian Kempe. …Kempe has 5 points in the past four games; two goals and three assists.

– Darcy Kuemper is 5-0-2 in his past seven games, and he has moved into sole possession of 8th place among all active NHL goaltenders in shutouts.

– Warren Foegele has eight points in his past six games after picking up an assist on Adrian Kempe’s goal (three goals, five assists). …Quinton Byfield, in his past six games, has seven points; five goals and two assists.

– Anze Kopitar had been called for his first penalty of the season after he held Luke Hughes at 12:01 of the first frame.