Petersen makes 42 saves, Kings end Golden Knights' eight-game win streak

LAS VEGAS -- The Vegas Golden Knights had their eight-game winning streak end when Cal Petersen made an NHL career-high 42 saves for the Los Angeles Kings in their 4-1 victory at T-Mobile Arena on Sunday.

It was the longest active winning streak in the NHL and tied for the longest in Golden Knights history (Dec. 14, 2017 to Jan. 2, 2018).
"It's frustrating when you lose," Vegas coach Peter DeBoer said. "I think we've been on a good run lately."
WATCH: [All Kings vs. Golden Knights highlights]
The Golden Knights (36-23-8), who also had their seven-game home winning streak end, remained four points ahead of the Edmonton Oilers for first place in the Pacific Division. Marc-Andre Fleury made 13 saves.
"You look at the standings, everyone seems to be winning along with us," Vegas defenseman Nate Schmidt said. "It's hard to drop a game like that, but we've been playing really well the last couple of weeks."
Petersen made 19 saves in the third period for the Kings (25-35-6), who have won three in a row. Anze Kopitar scored two goals.
"It was a good win," Petersen said. "Obviously they were kind of hot, so we wanted to come in here, especially on the road, and have a good performance. I think everybody did their job. I made the saves I needed to make, and it worked out."
Each of Kopitar's goals were scored in the first period. He gave the Kings a 1-0 lead at 2:01 and made it 2-0 on a power-play at 7:39.

Trevor Lewis made it 3-0 at 10:04 of the second period.
"I think the story of the game was we got behind and we were chasing all night," DeBoer said. "You fall into a 2-0 hole against anybody in this league, it has the potential to be a long night, especially when their goaltender is dialed in."
Shea Theodore scored on the power play at 13:14 to make it 3-1, but Alex Iafallo scored the Kings' second power-play goal of the game at 19:04 for the 4-1 final.
"Hopefully we just chalk this up as a learning experience that there's not a team in this league you [can] take lightly," Schmidt said. "We were just climbing uphill all night."

Vegas outshot Los Angeles 19-1 in the third period.
"We've played some good hockey lately," Kopitar said. "There's certainly room for improvement. Tonight, Cal was outstanding, obviously."
Golden Knights defenseman Alec Martinez had three shots in 21:12 in his first game against his former team. Martinez, who played his first 10 seasons with Los Angeles, was acquired in a trade from the Kings on Feb. 19.
"He's an ultimate team guy," Kopitar said. "He was a big part of our winning teams, he's a great penalty killer and an all-around very good player. Solid and reliable."

They said it

"Whether or not we're playing for positions in the standings, we're playing for pride and we're playing for jobs next year. Especially for the young guys, it's a great opportunity to get games in and play an important role. We're trying to establish a foundation for next year and years to come, so I think it's a really important time for us." -- Kings goalie Cal Petersen
"I don't know if it was kind of lackadaisical just because we've been winning, but we can't think like that. We can't look at what we've done in the last couple of weeks. I think our mindset's got to be every game, no matter who we're playing, whether we're playing a top team in the West or a bottom team in the East or vice-versa, these points are so important for us." -- Golden Knights center Paul Stastny

Need to know

Los Angeles went 3-1-0 against Vegas in the season series; the Kings are 6-3-0 against the Golden Knights over the past two seasons. … Kopitar has 12 points (three goals, nine assists) in the past nine games. He has 14 points (six goals, eight assists) in 13 regular-season games against Vegas. … Theodore had five shots on goal and led all skaters in ice time (26:55). … Golden Knights forward Brandon Pirri had one shot in 10:14 after being recalled from Chicago of the American Hockey League on Saturday.

What's next

Kings: Host the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday (10:30 p.m. ET; FS-W, SNO, NHL.TV)
Golden Knights: Host the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday (10 p.m. ET; ATTSN-RM, MSG+, NHL.TV)