LOS ANGELES – Two weeks ago the New Jersey Devils thought they had lost star forward Steve Bernier for the season. Luckily for them, his hip injury wasn’t serious and he bounced back to torch the Kings on Wednesday night.
“Steve Bernier had a big night,” said Devils President and General Manager Lou Lamoriello, “They’ve been working hard, competing each and every night.”
Bernier scored two power play goals as the Devils ignited for four consecutive goals in the second period to beat the Los Angeles Kings 5-3 at Staples Center
“We practiced it a little yesterday and today,” said Bernier about the Devils new power play line of Scott Gomez and Adam Henrique. “We can call them two lucky goals, but at the same time, if you don’t try, you’re not going to score. We’ll take it for sure.”
Martin Havlat, Mike Cammalleri and Michael Ryder also scored in a sensational second period that saw the Devils score three goals over a 68-second span.
Los Angeles tried to stop the bleeding after Havlat’s goal put the Devils up 3-1, by replacing goalie Martin Jones for Jonathan Quick. The move turned out to be fruitless as Quick immediately gave up two goals to end the period.
Bernier opened the scoring at the end of the first period when he slipped the puck through the five-hole on a persistent play in front of the net.
The Kings would answer in the start of the second period when Drew Doughty did his best Anze Kopitar impression and skated through the Devils defense where he found Dustin Brown streaking to the net for a great one-timer. The goal ended a 17-game drought for Brown who hadn’t scored since December 4th.
“You can’t trade chances. It doesn’t matter. Those look nice [Doughty’s goal], but that doesn’t matter,” said a disappointed Kings coach Darryl Sutter of Doughty’s beautiful one-timer to Brown. “You don’t get anything extra for beautiful. In fact, they got the points tonight for being right around the net.”
Marian Gaborik tipped a Brayden McNabb pass into the net at the 7:16 mark and Justin Williams knocked in a deflection for his 13th goal of the season, but it was not enough for the Kings on this night.
Jones made back-to-back starts in net for the second time this season after a masterful 19-save shutout performance against Toronto on Monday. Quick played 10:40 before being replaced by Jones again in the third period. Quick faced 7 shots, 2 of them goals during his half-period on the ice.
New Jersey (16-21) has struggled on the season, losing their previous two games. Cory Schneider was stellar in goal for the Devils stopping 22 shots for his 15th win of the season.
“Our penalty-kill and special teams were phenomenal and they have to be on the road,” added Schneider. “We need to get out of the habit of taking two or three penalties in the first period. I thought tonight we did a great job and had enough energy afterward to go on the offense.”
The Kings fall to 20-14-10 on the season, good for 7th place in the Western Conference. They have now surrendered five goals or more for the eighth time this season, something that only happened six times during their Stanley Cup run last year.
“We have to get points every time we can, we are struggling to hang on to a playoff spot,” said Kings defenseman Matt Greene about their position in the West. “We need every point we can.”
Game Notes:
LA Kings star rookie, Tanner Pearson, had surgery on his broken leg yesterday and will be out for the next three months. New Jersey stars Jaromir Jagr and Tuomo Ruutu both missed the game with the flu.
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