LOS ANGELES — Coming off their best performance of the season, a 5-1 road victory over the Pacific Division-leading Vancouver Canucks, the Kings opened a five-game homestand on Sunday in search of consistency.
For the second game in a row, they were excellent.
A hat-trick from Phillip Danault plus a goal by Alex Lafferriere and power-play conversion courtesy of Kevin Fialia lifted the Kings to back-to-back 5-1 wins, this time over the New Jersey Devils at Crypto.com Arena.
The Devils scored first, taking advantage of a crazy carrom off the glass to snatch the lead 15 seconds after the puck dropped.
An attempted clearance from Quinton Byfield kicked nearly 90 degrees to the left, landing in front of Nico Hirschier. The Devils center dished it forward a few feet to Timo Meier, who swept in a backhand above Cam Talbot’s right shoulder for a 1-0 lead.
That was as good as it got for the Devils (30-27-4, 64 points) over the remaining 59 minutes and 45 seconds.
Talbot, in his third straight start, saved the next 30 shots he faced to improve to 18-14-5 on the season.
The Kings caught a break to tie the game when Anze Kopitar skated into a referee in the New Jersey zone and headed to the bench as play shifted to the opposite side of the rink.
Replacing the Kings captain on the ice, Phillip Danault moved alone toward the visitor’s blue line, where he received a terrific pass by Fiala from deep in the defensive zone.
Danault charged toward the Devils goaltender, Nico Daws, unleashing a wrist shot at 7:56.
The game-winning goal belonged to Chatham, N.J., native Alex Laferriere, who put his favorite team growing up behind at 14:49 of the opening period with help from Pierre-Luc Dubois.
The big-bodied Dubois regained the puck twice against the boards before his 14th assist set up Laferriere’s ninth goal of the season, a wrist shot from the top of the right circle that snuck past Daws.
The matinee marked the second career appearance against the Devils for…
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