Peter Budaj, Kings shut out Hurricanes

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Peter Budaj made 22 saves, and Marian Gaborik and Trevor Lewis scored 38 seconds apart in the third period to give the Los Angeles Kings a 3-0 win against the Carolina Hurricanes at PNC Arena on Thursday.
The shutout was the fifth of the season for Budaj, who has a 2.06 goals-against average. Budaj played nine seasons in the NHL before playing the past two in the American Hockey League. The 34-year-old is making the most of his starting role in the absence of injured Jonathan Quick.
"So far so good," said Budaj, who got his 16th NHL shutout. "I'm very blessed to play the amount of games I've been playing (42). The team's playing very good in front of me. Everything is falling into place. I'm very thankful. I just want to stay humble and work hard."

WATCH: All Kings vs. Hurricanes highlights
The Kings (24-21-4) won their second straight game to complete a four-game road trip.

Cam Ward made 26 saves for the Hurricanes (21-20-7), who lost their fifth straight. Carolina was shut out for the first time in 82 games, the longest active streak in the NHL.
Drew Doughty set up Gaborik in the low slot, where he went from his forehand to his backhand to beat Ward at 15:17 for a 1-0 lead. Anze Kopitar made a backhand pass to Doughty in the neutral zone.
"Me and Kopitar made eye contact in our own zone and I saw he was by himself on the one side, so I decided to go over and help him," Doughty said. "When I got the puck, I looked over and saw Gaborik wide open. He made a great move to score."
Lewis scored from the low slot on the rebound of Devin Setoguchi's shot at 15:55 to make it 2-0. Kyle Clifford scored into an empty net at 17:36 to make it 3-0.
Los Angeles killed four Carolina power-play chances. The Hurricanes' last even-strength shot came with 15:13 left in the third period.
"There were definitely some chances," Carolina coach Bill Peters said. "[The Kings] did a good job competing in the defensive zone. Nothing was for free, a lot of contested shot attempts, a lot of pucks deflected. So, a tight one."
It was the last game for each team prior to the 2017 Honda NHL All-Star Weekend.

Goal of the game

Gaborik's fifth goal of the season was a perfectly executed play, beginning with Kopitar's patience waiting for it to take shape.

Save of the game

Budaj lunged to stop Sebastien Aho with his stick at 6:15 of the second period.
"[Elias] Lindholm made an unbelievable pass," Budaj said of the Hurricanes forward. "He pretty much froze me and froze our [defense]. It hit [Alec] Martinez's stick, it hit me, then it hit the crossbar. Thank God it didn't go in. You should be thankful for that because that doesn't happen that often."

Highlight of the game

Ward stopped Jordan Nolan on a short breakaway at 5:22 of the second period, staying with Nolan to fight off a backhand.

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Unsung performance of the game

The Los Angeles penalty kill unit didn't allow many good looks at the net. The Kings gave up two shots facing two third-period power plays.

They said it

"[Brayden] McNabb, [Derek] Forbort and [Kevin] Gravel, there's three pretty young guys on the back end. And you need your goaltender to make some saves. At the end of the day, that's the difference in most games, or just about every game." -- Kings coach Darryl Sutter
"That's five straight. I think tonight's game is going to go a long way toward leaving a bad taste. I think we'll get back to work in practice ... it will be like starting over." -- Hurricanes coach Bill Peters
"[Budaj] has been awesome. Everyone wants to blame where we are in the standings because we have guys injured, like Quick and [Tyler] Toffoli, but Budaj has been great night in and night out. He's really deserving of the accolades he's getting. Without him, we wouldn't be where we are right now." -- Kings defenseman Drew Doughty

Need to know

Forbort played 5:09 shorthanded, one of 13 Los Angeles penalty killers. … Hurricanes forward Jeff Skinner was held without a shot on goal for the first time this season. ... The Hurricanes have lost five straight for the first time this season.

What's next

Kings: At the Phoenix Coyotes on Tuesday (9 p.m. ET; FS-W, FS-A, NHL.TV)
Hurricanes: Host the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; CSN-PH, FS-CR, NHL.TV)