LOS ANGELES (AP) – Erik Haula, Nikita Okhotiuk and Ryan Graves scored in the second period, and the New Jersey Devils became the first NHL team to win 17 of its first 20 road games in the beating the Los Angeles Kings 5-2 on Saturday. night.
Tomas Tatar had a power-play goal, Jesper Bratt scored an empty net and Jack Hughes had two assists as the surprising Devils improved to 17-2-1 on the road, including six straight wins. Mackenzie Blackwood made 34 saves, stopping Kevin Fiala’s penalty shot in the third period.
“It was like a week or two ago when (Devils coach) Lindy (Ruff) put in our home run and walked off the bench. And it’s probably the first time we’ve to see that it was him,” said Haula.
Fiala and Anze Kopitar hit on the power play, but Jonathan Quick allowed four goals on 27 shots and the three-game winning streak ended.
“I think it’s a shame we didn’t make our chances count,” Los Angeles forward Adrian Kempe said. the problem tonight.
The Devils broke open the game with three goals in the second after both teams found back-to-back nets on the power play in the first.
“I think we can say we got away with the first one,” said Haula, who scored on a 2-on-1 rush 2:37 into the period to give New Jersey the lead. 2-1. “They put us on our heels, and Blackie was good today. So we came here 1-1, then we thought about it.
Kopitar tied it at 6:48 by deflecting Drew Doughty’s shot from the blue line, but the Devils regained the lead 52 seconds later when Okhotiuk beat Quick under his right defender on a long shot.
Graves made it 4-2 with 9:03 left when his shot from the left side deflected off the skate of defenseman Sean Walker.
“All the numbers are huge,” Blackwood said. “When you look back at the end of a season, when you get there, you say, ‘Wow, we had this or two.’ But you don’t know the game that can change the entry, so every point is important, every second point.
TRAVELING MAN
Ruff is no stranger to success on the road. His 2006-07 Buffalo Sabers are one of five teams in league history to win 15 of their first 19 road games, a mark Ruff’s Devils surpassed with their 6-2 victory in Anaheim on Friday .
“I can’t explain it,” Ruff said. “You know, we’re looking for ways to win, and I think every team, every coach knows that you win games in different ways. … I think our game, our detail in our game on the road is better. We controlled the puck well on the road. I think sometimes at home there is a tendency to be less, and some of our puck play hurt us.
Buffalo finished 25-12-4 on the road in 2006-07 and won the Conference Finals before losing to Ottawa in the Eastern Conference Finals.
HOME SWEET HOME
Kopitar scored his 200th career goal on home ice, becoming the fourth player in franchise history to do so. He joined Luc Robitaille, who led the Kings with 322 goals at home, Marcel Dionne (288) and Dave Taylor (233).
UP THERE
Devils: At San Jose on Monday.
Kings: Hosts Dallas Thursday night.
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