TORONTO (AP) Peter Budaj is still filling in nicely for Jonathan Quick, and the Los Angeles Kings gave him plenty of help Tuesday night.
Jeff Carter scored twice during a four-goal second period, Budaj made 19 saves and Los Angeles thumped the Toronto Maple Leafs 7-0.
Budaj hasn’t allowed a goal in 150:32 and has a 1.86 goals-against average while filling in for Quick, out with a lower-body injury since the opening game of the season.
”I’m glad I’m getting into the game rhythm a little bit,” Budaj told NHL.com. ”I’m seeing the puck really well right now and I just have to continue working hard and try to help the team.”
Tanner Pearson and Tyler Toffoli added goals in the second period and Dustin Brown, Kyle Clifford and Dwight King also scored. Los Angeles has won three straight.
Toronto goalie Frederik Andersen allowed four goals on 26 shots, and then Jhonas Enroth came on and made 14 saves.
The Leafs had won three straight.
”As optimistic as everything appears one day and you win three in a row, then you get your lunch fed to you and you’re not competitive and not organized and not prepared,” coach Mike Babcock said. ”It was a humbling experience for our players and myself here in our building.”
One of the younger teams in the league, the Leafs were ultimately schooled by a more veteran opponent, one that’s captured the Stanley Cup twice in the past five seasons.
”They taught us a lesson tonight,” Toronto forward Nazem Kadri said.
The Kings had the bulk of the chances in the first period, scoring with 6:04 left in the period on Brown’s second this year. Third-line center Nic Dowd did the dirty work, controlling the puck down low before finding Brown atop the left faceoff circle.
His shot through a maze of moving bodies beat Andersen, who entered the evening with a .944 save percentage in his previous five starts. The Leafs had a chance to get the puck out initially but Martin Marincin’s exit feed never quite reaching Ben Smith along the wall.
The Leafs came up with a couple decent chances early in the second. James van Riemsdyk was stopped by Budaj’s blocker while efforts from the all-rookie line of Auston Matthews, William Nylander and Zach Hyman were also shut down.
Matthews, who had 10 points in his first six NHL games, has only one point in his last seven.
Following that initial push from the Leafs, the Kings got two goals in less than two minutes, one from Pearson and another from Toffoli.
After the Leafs failed to come up with a puck in the neutral zone, Anze Kopitar scooped it up and found Pearson, who easily beat Andersen. Almost two minutes later, Toffoli finished off an odd-man rush for the 3-0 lead.
Carter added two more goals for the Kings less than five minutes apart. The first again came after the visitors march easily into the Toronto zone, and Carter’s shot and goal ending Andersen’s night.
Carter banked his second of the game and fifth this season off Enroth from behind the Leafs goal.
NOTES: The Kings added third period goals by Clifford and Lewis. Derek Forbort had a career-high three assists. … The Leafs were outshot 43-19 overall. Tuesday marked just their second loss in six games at home (4-2-0).
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Kings: Play at Montreal on Thursday night.
Maple Leafs: Host Philadelphia on Friday night.
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