David Rittich made his season debut for the visiting Los Angeles Kings and recorded 15 saves in a 4-1 win against the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday night.
Rittich, a 2020 NHL All-Star with the Calgary Flames, was recalled from Ontario of the AHL on Friday after Pheonix Copley left practice the same day with a lower-body injury.
Rittich last played in the NHL on April 13, stopping 21 shots for the Winnipeg Jets in a 4-2 loss to the Colorado Avalanche. He signed a one-year deal with Los Angeles on July 1.
Anze Kopitar had a goal and an assist, Trevor Moore, Alex Laferriere and Trevor Lewis also scored and Kevin Fiala had two assists for the Kings, who improved to 13-1-1 on the road this season. Los Angeles is 10-3-1 in the past 14 games.
Jacob MacDonald scored to spoil the shutout with 1:19 left and Kaapo Kahkonen made 35 saves for the Sharks, who have lost three in a row.
The Kings went on the game's first power play when Kyle Burroughs was whistled for high-sticking Fiala at 16:33 of the first period.
Kopitar then scored for the third straight game, converting from a sharp angle off a pass from behind the net from Arthur Kaliyev, giving Los Angeles a 1-0 lead at 17:48 of the first period.
The Kings provided themselves some breathing room with two goals 1:10 apart early in the second period.
The Sharks turned the puck over coming through the neutral zone and Fiala fired a pass to Moore heading the other way. Moore scored with a wrist shot off the rush for his 15th goal of the season and a 2-0 lead at 4:07.
Laferriere tipped in a point shot from Jordan Spence to extend the lead to 3-0 at 5:17.
Lewis scored a short-handed, empty-net goal with Kahkonen pulled for a two-man advantage to extend the lead to 4-0 with 1:48 left in the game.
MacDonald scored on the same power play to make it 4-1 just 29 seconds later.
--Field Level Media