Jonathan Quick made 34 saves as the Los Angeles Kings shut out the Ottawa Senators 2-0 on Thursday night to extend their winning streak to seven games.
Anze Kopitar and Andreas Athanasiou scored for the Kings (8-5-1).
Filip Gustavsson gave Ottawa (3-9-1) every chance to win the game by stopping 32 shots, but the shorthanded Senators couldn’t find a way to beat Quick.
The Senators knew they would be in tough against a surging L.A. side, but things were made that much harder as they continued to lose players to the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol.
On Thursday, goalie Matt Murray, defenceman Nikita Zaitsev and winger Alex Formenton were placed in protocol. They joined defencemen Josh Brown, Victor Mete and Nick Holden, as well as forwards Austin Watson, Connor Brown and Dylan Gambrell.
Defenceman Lassi Thompson made his NHL debut and Dilon Heatherington and forward Andrew Agozzino were also recalled from AHL Belleville.
Athanasiou made it 2-0 with just over three minutes remaining as he tipped Alexander Edler’s point shot.
Gustavsson made a number of big saves throughout the second period, but Kopitar finally beat him with a power-play goal at 15:28, with a little help from Ottawa’s Michael Del Zotto, who deflected the shot.
The undermanned Senators lost defenceman Artem Zub to an upper-body injury midway through the first period.
Senators forward Shane Pinto was back practising in a regular jersey for the first time since Oct. 21 when he suffered an upper-body injury.
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