WPG@LAK: Wagner scores on breakaway for second goal

LOS ANGELES --Austin Wagner scored two goals, and the Los Angeles Kings stopped the Winnipeg Jets' season-best five-game winning streak with a 4-1 win at Staples Center on Tuesday.

Alex Iafallo and Nate Thompson also scored for the Kings (12-20-3), who ended a four-game losing streak. Jonathan Quick made 27 saves.
"Tonight, I don't think there was any doubt in anyone's mind that we should have won that hockey game," Kings defenseman Drew Doughty said. "We played a full 60 minutes, and it is really good Kings hockey right there. We need to do it again. And again."
WATCH: [All Jets vs. Kings highlights]
Mathieu Perreault scored for the fifth straight game for the Jets (22-10-2), who had a five-game road winning streak end. Connor Hellebuyck made 27 saves.
"Just one of those nights," Perreault said. "Bounce didn't go our way. We had our chances, just couldn't put them in, and they scored on their chances. That's kind of the story of this game really."
Iafallo put the Kings ahead 2-1 at 9:08 of the second period. He has six points (two goals, four assists) during a five-game point streak.
Wagner scored on a breakaway at 18:08 to put Los Angeles up 3-1. It was the first multigoal game for the rookie forward playing in his 23rd NHL game.
The goal came after a sequence where Nikolaj Ehlers put a shot toward an open net that went off the post, the kind of chances Jets coach Paul Maurice said his team struggled to create against a sound Kings defense.
"There wasn't a whole lot of easy ice," Maurice said. "We had 18 shots blocked and they worked hard to get in front of those pucks. They played a real strong game and it was tight, not a lot of easy offense to be had for either team."

WPG@LAK: Wagner deflects puck just past Hellebuyck

Doughty had four blocked shots, including stopping a dangerous one-timer by Ehlers in the second period.
Thompson scored an empty-net goal at 19:55 for the 4-1 final.
Los Angeles has scored at least three goals in consecutive games for the third time this season, and Wagner credited the increased offensive production to better play on defense.
"We're breaking pucks out and we're getting a lot of chances by doing that, so when we're breaking out clean and not turning over pucks we're creating a lot of offense," Wagner said. "We're playing well right now and we just got to keep it going."
The Kings took a 1-0 lead 13:00 into the first period when Wagner tipped Daniel Brickley's shot. Hellebuyck made the initial save but the puck bounced high into the air and trickled into the net, bouncing over Josh Morrissey's stick as he tried to sweep it away.
Perreault tied it 1-1 1:52 into the second when he redirected Bryan Little's shot. Perreault has six points (five goals, one assist) during a six-game point streak.
"It's been fun," Perreault said of the longest scoring streak of his NHL career. "Not that I play any different really, my game never really changes. I play the same way night in and night out. Right now it's touching my stick and it's going and just bouncing in, so we'll take it."

WPG@LAK: Perreault deflects Little's shot in off post

Los Angeles looked to have gone back in front on a slap shot by Jake Muzzin at 5:46 during a power play, but Winnipeg successfully challenged for offside.
Kings coach Willie Desjardins was pleased with how the team responded after having the goal overturned.
"But we stayed with it," Desjardins said. "It didn't affect us, and we kept playing hard."

They said it

"We couldn't get the two to go that they got to go. But they earned it. They competed on every puck and battled hard. The back check was outstanding. We weren't crossing through the neutral zone at all. It was straight lines." -- Jets coach Paul Maurice
"Every single player in our lineup made a difference out there tonight. We played a good defensive game too, which we'd been lacking. As much as we want to create more offense and talk about this and that we got to keep pucks out of our net and we haven't been doing that lately." -- Kings defenseman Drew Doughty

Need to know

The Jets failed to score at least two goals for the second time in their past 16 games. … Jets forward Mark Scheifele, who played in his 400th NHL game, had a five-game multipoint streak end. He was trying to become the first player in Jets/Atlanta Thrashers history with four straight three-point games. … Defenseman Dustin Byfuglien and forward Blake Wheeler each had a five-game point streak end for the Jets. … Kings forward Anze Kopitar had an assist, giving him four points (one goal, three assists) in his past five games. … Iafallo has scored in consecutive games for third time in his NHL career.

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What's next

Jets:At the San Jose Sharks on Thursday (10:30 p.m. ET; NBCSCA, TSN3, NHL.TV)
Kings: At the San Jose Sharks on Saturday (4 p.m. ET; NBCSN, SN1, SNE, SNW, SNP, NHL.TV)

Wagner records first multi-goal game in Kings' win