Toffoli Scores In OT For Kings, Snaps Penguins' Streak
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Tyler Toffoli scored a minute into overtime, helping the Los Angeles Kings end the Pittsburgh Penguins' seven-game winning streak with a 1-0 victory Friday night.
The Kings have won three of four overall and four straight against the Penguins. Toffoli got his eighth goal, and Peter Budaj stopped 39 shots for his third shutout of the season.
Matt Murray made his fifth straight start and had 27 saves for the Penguins. Pittsburgh had won nine of 11 and six straight at home.
Toffoli scored on a 3-on-1, taking a pass from defenseman Alec Martinez before skating to the top of the crease and lifting a wrist shot that beat Murray to the glove side.
The Penguins sit atop the Metropolitan Division with 44 points and are tied with Chicago for the NHL lead.
Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby ended his season-high — and NHL-best — nine-game point streak. Crosby leads the league with 21 goals but failed to score in consecutive games for the first time this season. He has points in 20 of 25 games this year.
Pittsburgh had a 30-15 advantage in shots heading into the third but couldn't get on the board. The Kings outshot Pittsburgh in the third and had the period's only power play, but still the game went scoreless to OT. It was the fourth time in the last five meetings the teams needed overtime against one another.
The Kings are in the midst of a nine-game, 18-day trip that started Tuesday at Buffalo and ends in two weeks at Edmonton. Los Angeles has six wins in 15 road games this season, compared to 10 wins in 15 home games.
The Penguins played without top defenseman Kris Letang, who is out a couple weeks with a lower-body injury. The Penguins were down to four defensemen at one point in Friday's game after losing Trevor Daley late in the second period and Brian Dumoulin early in the third. Dumoulin returned, but Daley did not.
Letang, who had seven assists in his last seven games, was injured in Pittsburgh's win against Boston on Wednesday. The Penguins had been 4-1 in five games without Letang this season and 2-8-1 in 11 games missed last season.
Pittsburgh recalled Derrick Pouliot from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton to take Letang's spot in the lineup. Pouliot previously played in one game against San Jose earlier this season.
NOTES: Kings general manager Dean Lombardi said Wednesday that goaltender Jonathan Quick will be out until around mid-February with a groin injury that has sidelined him since October. ... Pittsburgh scratched F Eric Fehr and D Steve Oleksy, while Los Angeles sat F Devin Setoguchi, F Andy Andreoff and D Kevin Gravel. ... Pittsburgh recognized former goaltender Jeff Zatkoff, now on Los Angeles, with a video tribute.
UP NEXT
Kings: Continue their road trip at Boston on Sunday.
Penguins: Visit Toronto on Saturday.
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