Carter gets winner in 1,000th game, Kings top Golden Knights
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jeff Carter understands his simple approach is the biggest reason for his success and longevity in the NHL.
So it was fitting that Carter got the winning goal Saturday with nothing more than good old-fashioned hard work.
Carter scored in his 1,000th career game, and the Los Angeles Kings beat the Vegas Golden Knights 4-3 for their third straight victory.
Carter tipped Matt Roy’s shot from the blue line to put the Kings ahead 12:42 into the third period. The flashiest part of the sequence came when Carter gave several fist pumps after ending up on his back.
“Nothing special about it, you know,” said Carter, who also played his 500th game with the Kings. “Win a faceoff, shoot a puck, and go to the net. That’s kind of how the games go for us. We simplify.”
It was the 371st career goal and 713th point for Carter, the kind of production that had Drew Doughty expecting him to do something special to propel the Kings to their longest win streak of the season.
“I just felt like that was just going to happen,” said Doughty, who had a goal and an assist. “Jeff’s a goal scorer and has scored big goals like that his whole career, so I don’t think anyone is too shocked in here.”
Nikolai Prokhorkin scored his first career goal for Los Angeles, and Jonathan Quick made 28 saves.
Max Pacioretty and Jonathan Marchessault each had a goal and an assist for the Golden Knights, who have lost five straight. William Karlsson also scored, and Malcolm Subban made 21 saves.
Despite rallying with three goals in the second period, tying it at 3 when Karlsson scored at 17:06, Vegas lost in regulation for the fourth straight game.
“Any time the confidence is down, it seems like every chance against ends up in the back of your net, but we got to fight through it,” Pacioretty said.
The Kings took a 1-0 lead on Blake Lizotte’s short-handed goal at 10:59 of the first. Adrian Kempe lost control of the puck breaking in on net during an odd-man rush, but it ended up going to Lizotte for his second career goal.
Doughty made it 2-0 at 15:10 with a one-timer from the left circle. The power-play goal was Doughty’s 480th career point, moving into 10th place in Kings history.
Pacioretty got his seventh goal of the season at 7:24 of the second when Reilly Smith’s shot deflected in off his skate, but Prokhorkin followed Kyle Clifford’s shot for his first career point and a 3-1 lead at 9:08.
Marchessault cut the margin to 3-2 at 14:52 on a shot from the blue line through traffic.
However, Carter’s sixth goal of the season wiped out the strong pushback by Vegas.
“Just a bad result at the end,” Golden Knights coach Gerard Gallant said. “We had a great second period, got back to even. Played good besides the winning goal but that happens.”
NOTES: Marchessault has two goals and two assists during a four-game point streak. ... Kings C Anze Kopitar had an assist to extend his point streak to six games. He has three goals and six assists in that span. ... Vegas signed F Peyton Krebs to a three-year, entry-level contract. Krebs was selected No. 17 overall in the 2019 NHL Draft.
UP NEXT
Golden Knights: Host the Calgary Flames on Sunday.
Kings: Visit the Arizona Coyotes on Monday.
