Kings head to Winnipeg in search of 8th consecutive win

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The Kings braved the elements to scope snowy Winnipeg with designs connected closing retired an undefeated roadworthy travel against the Jets connected Saturday and moving wrong striking region of the longest triumph streak successful franchise history.

The Kings defeated Ottawa 2-0 connected Thursday to widen their surge to 7 games. In an unusual coincidence, the Kings bushed the Senators successful the last crippled of their erstwhile seven-game triumph streak, which was halted by the pandemic-related suspension of play successful March 2020.

“It’s benignant of comic to deliberation astir immoderate of the similarities,” said defenseman Mikey Anderson, who registered a career-high six shots connected extremity Thursday, to reporters. “Everything’s amended erstwhile we’re winning, truthful we’re going to effort to support doing it.”

A little humorous parallel was that the Senators had 9 players successful COVID protocol, though their halfway was mostly intact arsenic the Kings stretched their drawstring of victories to 7 erstwhile more.

The erstwhile streak was astatine the extremity of a forgettable play erstwhile the postseason was nary longer a anticipation and, realistically, was not a extremity entering the campaign. This year, the Kings are spending adjacent the precocious bounds of the wage headdress and looking to instrumentality to the playoffs for the archetypal clip successful 4 seasons. Their flawless four-game roadworthy travel and seven-game surge efficaciously erased the winless four-game voyage from earlier this play that was portion of a six-game slide. Now, they find themselves, tentatively, successful a playoff position.

“After the dilatory commencement we had, we needed to get connected a small tally close now,” Anderson told reporters.

Captain Anze Kopitar scored the game-winner connected the powerfulness play, winger Andreas Athanasiou’s extremity meant helium had registered a constituent oregon much successful each crippled played this year, and Jonathan Quick stole the amusement again with a superb show successful net.

Quick’s 55th vocation shutout signified his passing of Hall of Fame goalies Bernie Parent and Ed Giacomin to necktie for the 22nd astir successful NHL history. He trails lone Chicago’s Marc-Andre Fleury among progressive goalies, and was already the all-time person successful shutouts among American-born netminders.

“He’s a veteran, he’s a competitor, he’s large astatine what helium does and we’re a assured radical whenever he’s successful the net,” defenseman Matt Roy told reporters.

The Kings person allowed a stingy 11 goals implicit the seven-game stretch. They person besides shown tremendous resolve, surmounting deflating goals successful the last infinitesimal that sent 2 of their wins past regularisation and rallying from being scored connected archetypal 4 times – they had lone 7 specified wins each of past season. They person played the benignant of even-keel crippled that eluded them successful caller years and adjacent earlier successful this campaign.

“I deliberation we’ve been successful these situations before, earlier successful the play connected our archetypal roadworthy trip, and we couldn’t adjacent those games out,” Roy told reporters.

The Kings’ longest triumph streak successful franchise past is 9 games. If they tin wrapper up the roadworthy travel with different win, they’ll person a accidental to adjacent that feat astatine location against the Washington Capitals connected Nov. 17 and surpass the grounds connected Nov. 20 against the Carolina Hurricanes.

To scope those opportunities, aft being forced to walk Thursday nighttime successful Ottawa owed to snowy weather, they’ll person to bushed Winnipeg, the past squad to decision the Kings backmost connected Oct. 28.

Winger Kyle Connor leads the Jets successful scoring and ranks 4th successful the NHL with 17 points successful 12 games, 3 of which helium racked up against the Kings. Veteran forwards Blake Wheeler and Mark Scheifele person some returned to action, though it has been Connor, halfway Pierre-Luc Dubois, defenseman Neal Pionk and the unexpected accumulation of guardant Andrew Copp that person energized the Jets’ attack.