NEW YORK (AP) — Alex Turcotte and Warren Foegele scored in the first period, and the Los Angeles Kings beat the New York Rangers 5-1 on Saturday for their seventh win in eight games.
Quinton Byfield, Adrian Kempe and Phillip Danault also scored as the Kings handed the Rangers their ninth loss in 12 games. Darcy Kuemper made 31 saves.
Los Angeles captain Anze Kopitar had two assists as the Kings chased Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin in the second period. Shesterkin allowed five even-strength goals on 21 shots.
Turcotte opened the scoring at 7:05, whipping the puck past Shesterkin to finish a 2-on-1 break with Kempe. Foegele made it 2-0 at 15:06 of the first.
Byfield scored at 2:46 of the second, followed by Kempe at 4:40 and Danault at 5:04.
Shesterkin was pulled after Danault’s goal in favor of Jonathan Quick, a former Kings goaltender. Shesterkin fell to 10-11-1 this season.
Filip Chytil scored his sixth goal for New York.
The Rangers were without defenseman K’Andre Miller, who suffered an upper-body injury during Thursday’s win at Buffalo. Miller was replaced by Connor Mackey.
Kuemper improved to 7-2-3.
Quick made 13 saves in relief.
Rangers: Fell to 7-8-1 at home. They lost only 11 times in 41 games last season at Madison Square Garden.
Kings: Los Angeles is 7-2-3 against Eastern Conference opponents. The Kings have allowed two goals or less in seven of their last eight games.
Turcotte’s third goal of the season set the tone for the afternoon as the Kings dominated the Rangers.
Kopitar leads the Kings with 34 points, including eight goals. The 37-year-old center is in his 19th season with Los Angeles.
The Kings visit the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday. The Rangers visit the St. Louis Blues on Sunday for the opener of a three-game trip.
AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL
Los Angeles Kings' Kevin Fiala, right, skates with the puck ahead of New York Rangers' Vincent Trocheck, left, during the first period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
New York Rangers' Braden Schneider, right, and Los Angeles Kings' Adrian Kempe, left, battle for the puck during the second period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
Los Angeles Kings' Alex Laferriere, right, and New York Rangers' Adam Edstrom, left, fight for the puck during the first period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
From left, Los Angeles Kings' Jordan Spence, Alex Turcotte, Anze Kopitar and Adrian Kempe celebrate after Kempe scored during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the New York Rangers, Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
AQABA, Jordan (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has wrapped up perhaps his last Middle East as America’s top diplomat, with the aim of preventing Syria from spiraling out of control after the sudden ouster of President Bashar Assad.
Blinken was one of several senior U.S. officials traveling across the region in the Biden administration’s final weeks amid deep uncertainty in Washington and abroad over how Donald Trump will approach the Mideast when he takes office on Jan. 20, 2025.
Blinken held meetings Jordan, Turkey and Iraq with the aim of trying to shape the future of post-Assad Syria by forging consensus among regional partners and allies whose interests often diverge.
“We know that what happens inside of Syria can have powerful consequences well beyond its borders, from mass displacement to terrorism," he told reporters Saturday in Aqaba, Jordan. "And we know that we can’t underestimate the challenges of this moment.”
The primary goal of his 11 previous trips to the region since the Israel-Hamas war began in October 2023 was securing a ceasefire in Gaza that resulted in the release of remaining hostages.
Now, suddenly, that wasn't his priority and was being handled by President Joe Biden's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, who traveled to Israel, Egypt and Qatar this week. Blinken said he used his own meetings to press forward on a ceasefire deal.
Biden's team is running out of time to cement a legacy in the Middle East after drawing widespread criticism that it turned a blind eye to Israel’s military conduct and its treatment of civilians in Gaza. They did succeed in helping lead a push for a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon that, while tenuous, is holding.
Here are some takeaways from Blinken's trip:
While hopes remain for concluding a Gaza ceasefire by the time Biden leaves the White House, helping shape a new Syria may prove to be lower-hanging fruit.
Blinken left Washington just three days after Assad fled for Russia, a longtime ally. Blinken said his goal was to convince countries in the Mideast and elsewhere that they should commit to backing the U.S. view of how Syria should be run after decades of Assad family rule.
To that end, he said he had secured the backing of the 12 foreign ministers from the Arab League, Turkey and top officials from the European Union and United Nations who held an emergency meeting Saturday on Syria in the Jordanian port city of Aqaba.
They agreed that the new Syrian government should respect the rights of minorities and women, prevent terror groups from taking hold, ensure humanitarian aid reaches people in need, and secure and destroy any remaining Assad-era chemical weapons.
Blinken has promised that the United States would recognize and support a new government that met those principles.
Syria is riven by partisan and sectarian infighting that led in part to rise of the Islamic State militant group in the first place.
Turkey, Syria’s neighbor to the north, is deeply suspicious of Syrian and Iraqi Kurds. Turkey deems them terrorists, although some of those Kurds have proved to be key American partners in the fight to destroy IS.
The U.S. helped broker an agreement between the Turks and one of those Kurdish groups, the Syrian Defense Forces, after Assad’s departure, although it’s unclear how long that can last.
“We have the urgency of now,” Blinken said Saturday. “The urgency of now is to ensure that the success that we’ve had in ending the territorial caliphate of ISIS ... remains a critical mission," he said, using a different acronym for the group.
The SDF runs detention facilities holding some 10,000 fighters, and Blinken said its role is key because "this is a moment of instability in which ISIS will seek to regroup and take advantage of.”
Just after Assad's downfall, the U.S. struck about 75 IS targets in the Syrian desert in an effort to prevent the group from gaining a foothold. The U.S. also has about 900 troops in Syria to battle the group.
There are concerns in the region about how the incoming Trump administration will handle the Middle East, apart from deepening ties with Israel.
Trump has demanded the immediate release of hostages in Gaza, threatening on social media that otherwise there would be “HELL TO PAY,” and has urged the U.S. not to get involved in Syria.
Nonetheless, current U.S. officials believe the Republican is unlikely to abandon American military positions in Syria, as he had wanted to do during his first term. Their belief stems from the fact that Trump frequently takes credit for vanquishing IS by finishing the liberation of their territory that began during the Obama administration.
The threat of the possible return of IS would be too great for Trump risk, according to these officials. They say Iraq, which signed an agreement with the U.S. in September under which the U.S.-led anti-IS coalition will withdraw next year, is already hinting that conditions could force a change in that timetable.
On a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal, Sullivan expressed cautious optimism that conditions were ripe for halting the long-running conflict before the end of the Biden administration's end.
“I wouldn’t be here now if I didn’t think this thing was just waiting until after Jan. 20,” he said this week.
Sullivan also said there has been good cooperation with the incoming Trump administration, with widespread agreement between them.
The Biden administration has made it a priority to find Austin Tice, an American journalist believed held in Syria for more than a decade. Since Assad’s ouster, the U.S. has redoubled efforts to find Tice and return him home.
Blinken said Saturday that the U.S. has been in direct contact with the rebels that ousted Assad, including about “the importance of helping find Austin Tice and bringing him home.”
Washington’s top hostage negotiator, Roger Carstens, traveled to Lebanon this week in hopes of getting information on Tice.
Meanwhile, U.S. officials said Friday that another American, Travis Timmerman, was transported by the U.S. military out of Syria, where he had disappeared seven months ago into Assad's prison system. Timmerman was among the thousands released this week.
Officials say Timmerman, 29, was flown to Jordan on a U.S. military helicopter Friday, and it’s unclear where he may go next. He was detained after he crossed into Syria from Lebanon while on a Christian pilgrimage in June.
Qatar's Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani, Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen, UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan and others attend the meeting of the Arab Contact Group on Syria in Jordan's southern Red Sea coastal city of Aqaba, Saturday Dec. 14, 2024. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Pool via AP)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken delivers a statement to the press after the meeting with the foreign ministers of the Arab Contact Group on Syria in Jordan's southern Red Sea coastal city of Aqaba, Saturday Dec. 14, 2024. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Pool via AP)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken delivers a statement to the press after the meeting with the foreign ministers of the Arab Contact Group on Syria in Jordan's southern Red Sea coastal city of Aqaba, Saturday Dec. 14, 2024. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Pool via AP)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks to members of the trip and staff from the US Embassy in Jordan before boarding his plane in Aqaba on Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Pool Photo via AP)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken delivers a statement to the press after the meeting with the foreign ministers of the Arab Contact Group on Syria in Jordan's southern Red Sea coastal city of Aqaba, Saturday Dec. 14, 2024. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Pool via AP)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken leaves after delivering a statement to the press after the meeting with the foreign ministers of the Arab Contact Group on Syria in Jordan's southern Red Sea coastal city of Aqaba, Saturday Dec. 14, 2024. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Pool via AP)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, second left, is welcomed by US officials upon landing in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, Dec. 13, 2024. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Pool Photo via AP)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken looks on while riding in a helicopter on the way back from the US Embassy headquarters to Baghdad airport ahead of his departure on Friday, Dec. 13, 2024. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Pool Photo via AP)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken waves farewell as he boards his plane in Aqaba, Jordan, on Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Pool Photo via AP)
Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, left, speaks with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a meeting with the foreign ministers of the Arab Contact Group on Syria in Jordan's southern Red Sea coastal city of Aqaba, Saturday Dec. 14, 2024. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Pool via AP)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken waits to disembark from a plane in Jordan's Red Sea resort of Aqaba, on Friday, Dec. 13, 2024. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Pool Photo via AP)
