Dec. 30--Just call this Dustin Brown's house of pain.
First there was his own hurt after taking a puck in the face, followed by the pain he inflicted upon Edmonton on Tuesday night. The Kings captain scored once on the power play and added two assists in their 5-2 victory over the Oilers at Rexall Place.
They were sparked by three goals in a span of 1 minute 36 seconds -- Dwight King, Michael Mersch and Tyler Toffoli -- to take a 3-0 lead in the second period and forced the Oilers to change goalies, pulling starter Cam Talbot for Anders Nilsson.
For Mersch, it was his first NHL goal. "It was a big relief," he said. "Being the first one for me, it was pretty special." Sixteen seconds later, Toffoli scored his team-leading 18th of the season, and he has six goals in the last four games.
Kings goalie Jonathan Quick, coming off his 40th career shutout in Monday's win over Vancouver, made 42 saves against the Oilers, supporting Kings Coach Darryl Sutter's move to play him in the back-to-back scenario.
It was the Kings' third straight win and they opened up an 11-point lead in the Pacific Division over second-place Arizona, halting the Oilers' seven-game home winning streak. They've outscored the opposition, 10-2, in their last two games, also without the services of an injured Jeff Carter, who is out with an upper-body injury.
"Our mind-set is different," Brown said. "In years past, we've been able to turn it on when we needed to. Last year, we thought we could do that and we didn't. Guys learned a lot from that."
The reunited line of King-Trevor Lewis-Brown combined for eight points, giving the Kings the secondary scoring they've often been missing this season.
Lewis, like Brown, had a goal and two assists. King scored once and added an assist.
King had missed the first 35 games of the season after suffering a broken foot in their final preseason game, an injury requiring surgery.
Although he wasn't expected back for a few more days -- Sutter earlier had ruled out a return in 2015 -- the veteran was a surprise return to the lineup.
Not to Sutter or King, of course.
"Probably Darryl being himself," King said, smiling. "We kind of had a plan. I was gearing up for this road trip. I knew some time during this trip I'd be inserted."
They had more or less circled this game, knowing that King's parents could get here for it, only about a 31/2-hour drive from their home in Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan.
King not only scored but helped open up things for Brown and Lewis and supplied the size and production they've needed on the left wing.
