LOS ANGELES — Despite the tough loss to the remaining undefeated team in the NHL, the Kings’ special teams are beginning to take steps in the right direction.

Within the opening minute of the first period, Jordan Staal scored his 300th career NHL goal, and the Carolina Hurricanes went on the power-play. And while the Kings’ penalty kill has struggled to start the season, they killed off the early power-play.

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The Hurricanes’ third line of Jordan Staal, William Carrier, and Jordan Martinook kept the Kings on their heels all period, as Staal scored his second of the game on a one-timer that trickled past Anton Forsberg.

“You guys have watched the Carolina Hurricanes,” Kings head coach Jim Hiller said. “They start better than anybody in the National Hockey League, very consistent, they come at you with a pace that you can’t work your way into. And it shouldn’t have surprised us, let’s put it that way. And that’s the most disappointing part of the game- we got going, we got competitive, but we weren’t ready to play at the pace they were ready to play at, and they’re known for that.”

The Kings regained a lot of momentum, even after Jesperi Kotkaniemi gave the Hurricanes a 3-0 lead early in the second period. Trevor Moore scored a minute after to make it 3-1, and Andrei Kuzmenko scored a power-play goal off a nice touch pass from Quinton Byfield with 3:56 left in the second period.

The Kings’ penalty kill remained perfect, killing off a crucial five-on-three that started in the final minutes of the second period and continued into the third period. The Kings finished the game one for one on the power-play and three for three on the penalty kill.

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“The penalty kill has been leaking a little bit- five on three, so they did an excellent job, the power-play scores. You’d think with where we have been with our start, that if we won the special teams battle, we’re going to be in a good spot, and we’ll just keep going. We just got to keep going,” Hiller said.

The Hurricanes had quality chances from off the rush and sustained offensive zone time throughout the third period, and Anton Forsberg made some big saves to keep the Kings in the game, including a two-on-one chance from Sebastian Aho that was labeled for the shortside top shelf.

“Yeah, he was great today- really good,” Kings forward Adrian Kempe said. “I think overall throughout the game, I don’t think we helped him enough in the first period. He kept us in the game, for sure. As the game went on, down three, you had to take some risks, and when they got their chances, he was there to save us.”

Then, just past the halfway point of the third period, Kevin Fiala scored the Kings’ third unanswered goal, tying the game, beating Hurricanes goaltender Brandon Bussi low blocker side.

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The Kings forced the game into overtime, but with 3:15 left in regulation, Hurricanes forward Seth Jarvis slid the puck past a sprawling Anton Forsberg on a broken play, keeping the Hurricanes undefeated at 5-0-0 with a 4-3 win, leaving the Kings with one point, and still winless on home ice.

If there are any positives to take away from the game against the Hurricanes, it’s that the Kings can compete with the best teams in the NHL when their special teams are in sync.

The Kings will hit the road for a five-game road trip, starting Tuesday, October 21, against the St. Louis Blues, and won’t return to Crypto.com Arena until October 30, when the Kings host the New Jersey Devils.