With their red-hot run of success on the road now cooled, the Los Angeles Kings will work on establishing more positives in their own building when they face the Winnipeg Jets on Wednesday.
The Kings won an NHL-record 11 consecutive games on the road to start a season before finally meeting some resistance, dropping consecutive games in New York. They lost 3-2 in overtime to the Islanders on Saturday, then fell 4-1 to the Rangers on Sunday.
Former Kings goalie Jonathan Quick made 25 saves for the Rangers, with Phillip Danault scoring Los Angeles’ lone goal in the third period.
“I don’t think we played poorly,” said Kings coach Todd McLellan, whose team will play just one game at home before heading out for a two-game road trip. “I just don’t think we played a game that allowed us to have any chance at winning.”
There has been far less success this season for the Kings in Los Angeles, where they are a pedestrian 5-4-3 — the fewest home wins among any team in the top five of its division.
The Kings now will play their first home game since Dec. 3, when they earned a 4-1 victory over the Colorado Avalanche.
“I don’t think there is going to be any sense of panic or anything in the group,” Los Angeles defenseman Mikey Anderson said. “We trust what we have here. We trust what we’re doing. Get back in L.A. and get back to working, figure some things out.”
The Jets saw their four-game winning streak end with a 2-1 road loss against the San Jose Sharks on Monday, and now they head south for a second game in two nights. The victory allowed the Sharks to escape the Pacific Division cellar.
Brenden Dillion scored Winnipeg’s only goal at San Jose when he sent a puck toward the net from the left slot and it glanced off the glove of Sharks goalie Mackenzie Blackwood and into the net. It was the defenseman’s fifth of the season.
Laurent Brossoit was in goal for the Jets in place of Connor Hellebuyck for the night, and he made 30 saves. Hellebuyck is expected back in the crease against the Kings, bringing with him a .915 save percentage and a 2.45 goals-against average.
Despite the defeat, the Jets are still 6-2-0 away from home going back to Nov. 4. They are 12-5-0 overall since that date, moving into third place in the Central Division.
Winnipeg played without leading goal-scorer Kyle Connor on Tuesday after the forward took a knee-on-knee hit from Ryan Strome in a 4-2 comeback victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday. According to reports, Connor could miss six to eight weeks.
“Kyle is heading back to Winnipeg (and) he will be re-evaluated by our doctors when he gets in and we’ll go from there,” Jets coach Rick Bowness said Tuesday. “We’ll know more when our doctors have a chance to evaluate him themselves.”
Mark Scheifele is tied with Connor for the Jets’ points lead at 28 but was held without a point in a team-high 24:25 of ice time Monday. Winnipeg went 0-for-5 on the power play.
