Kings edge Hurricanes 2-1 in shootout

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) Jeff Carter may never be a fan of having shootouts. Still, there is one scenario where he enjoys the format.

``I like it when I score,'' Carter said.

Carter was a happy man Friday night, scoring the shootout winner to lift the Los Angeles Kings to a 2-1 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes.

Dwight King also scored for the Kings while Jonathan Quick made 27 saves.

Jeff Skinner had Carolina's goal, and Cam Ward stopped 36 shots.

Carter, who had scored four goals in his first four games of the season, went to his backhand in the shootout to beat Ward.

Quick stopped Nathan Gerbe, Alexander Semin and Skinner in the shootout to make Carter's goal hold up as the winner.

``He's a top-class goalie, and he showed it,'' King said of Quick.

Ward, Carolina's No. 1 netminder, has yet to win a game this season - both of the Hurricanes' victories have come with back-up Anton Khudobin in net.

King scored on a short-handed breakaway 13:26 into the third period, sliding the puck through Ward's legs after Carolina's Justin Faulk turned the puck over near the Hurricanes' blue line.

Carolina tied the score 40 seconds later on the same power play when Skinner cleaned up a rebound off an Andrej Sekera shot from the point.

Up until that sequence, there had been few scoring chances in the tight-checking affair. The Kings did pressure Ward in the opening minutes of the game, and the Hurricanes' Eric Staal and Alexander Semin misfired on a two-on-one opportunity in the second. Otherwise, there wasn't much room to maneuver.

``It wasn't 50 minutes of nothing - it was a pretty good game,'' said Los Angeles coach Darryl Sutter.

Los Angeles' power play had some dangerous moments in the third period, but the unit couldn't beat Ward. The Kings also had a power play in overtime but couldn't generate many chances.

Los Angeles came into the game having scored on 31.2 percent of their man advantages this season.

For his part, Carolina coach Kirk Muller was pleased with his team's effort. It was the first of 20 back-to-back games for the Hurricanes - Carolina won 3-2 on Thursday night in Washington.

``I think that's a game that shows our team is growing together,'' Muller said. ``Obviously, we didn't get the extra point, but you know three (points) out of four - that's pretty good.''

The Kings dominated in the faceoff circle, winning 69 percent of the draws.

Elias Lindholm, Carolina's first-round draft pick in the summer, suffered an upper-body injury in the second period and did not return.

NOTES: Carolina's Staal played in his 695th NHL game for the Hurricanes, moving into fourth place on the franchise's all-time list. . Quick was playing in his 291st NHL game but first against the Hurricanes. . Carolina made its first lineup tweaks of the season, starting F Kevin Westgarth and D Mike Komisarek in place of F Riley Nash and D Ryan Murphy.