Kings-Flyers: Jonathan Quick saves the day in Kings’ 1-0 victory in Philadelphia
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
At this rate the Kings might ask to play all road games next season.
Jonathan Quick’s sensational 40-save performance and a strong effort by their penalty killers helped the Kings eke out a 1-0 victory over the East-leading Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday and improve to 4-0-2 during a stretch of 10 consecutive games away from Staples Center.
Drew Doughty scored the only goal, after Wayne Simmonds took the puck from Mike Richards behind Philadelphia’s net and got the puck to Anze Kopitar. The center’s feed to Doughty was a good one, and Doughty rifled a shot past Sergie Bobrovsky 17 seconds into the second period for his seventh goal of the season.
The Kings killed off a five-on-three Flyers power play in the middle period, with former Flyer Michal Handzus leading the way with smart positioning and solid plays in which he tipped passes away.
Quick’s shutout was his sixth this season and 14th of his career. The Kings had lost to the Flyers, 7-4, at home on Dec. 30.
The Kings, who have earned points in nine straight games (7-0-2), have allowed three goals or fewer in an impressive 15 consecutive games.
Despite all these accomplishments, the Kings are still not among the top eight in the Western Conference. They’re even in points with the Minnesota Wild, at 65 each, but Minnesota has played fewer games and so wins the tiebreaker.
Check back for more at www.latimes.com/sports
--Helene Elliott, reporting from Philadelphia