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Goals late in the period costs the Kings; L.A. acquires Mitchell from Habs |
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Goals allowed within the last minute of a period is one of the more deflating things that can happen in a hockey game.
Against the Winnipeg Jets on Wednesday, the Los Angeles Kings allowed two goals that fit that description and that ended up being the difference as the Kings went on to lose 2-1.
Adam Lowry scored with eight seconds left in the first period while Patrik Laine scored with 59 seconds left in the second period to give the Jets a lead they never relinquished. Tyler Toffoli scored the lone goal for the Kings.
Los Angeles has now lost six of their last seven games and have given up the first goal of the game and had to play catch up in five of those losses.
“I thought our third period was good, we had lots of chances,” said Anze Kopitar after the game. “There were a couple of times when we got close, but you know that’s what happens when you don’t play a full game. It’s usually good enough to lose by one and tonight was no different.”
What is also concerning for the Kings is their offensive production has dropped during their rough stretch. L.A. has only scored more than two goals just once over the past seven games, however coach John Stevens believes that the team is still on the right track.
“I thought we created a lot of good looks tonight,” said Stevens. “The bottom line is you’ve got to find ways to win hockey games. We’re not going to throw all the work that’s been done out the window here.”
“We lost a 2-1 hockey game here, and we’ve got to dig in a little bit and come up with a few more situations where we keep the chances away from our net and put the puck in their net.”
With the loss and the Vegas Golden Knights win, the Kings fell to second place in the division after going on such a hot start to the season. Kopitar, however, feels it’s too early to scoreboard watch.
“Well it’s very early to check out the standings like that,” explained Kopitar. “We certainly knew having the start we had, we were up there. I don’t know exactly where we are right now in terms of standings, but it doesn’t matter about the standings.”
“We obviously have to stop the bleeding and turn the ship around.”
Jonathan Quick had a good bounce back game after he let in three goals on nine shots against the Golden Knights on Sunday. Quick was able to give the Kings a chance to win the game, stopping 25 of 27 shots against him.
Coming up next for the Kings they travel to Arizona to take on the Coyotes for a Friday afternoon tilt. Arizona had won three in a row before falling to the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday. Then on Saturday the Kings return home to take on the Anaheim Ducks for part two of the Freeway Faceoff.
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The Los Angeles Kings announced that they have acquired Torrey Mitchell from the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for a conditional fifth round draft choice in 2018.
The condition on the pick is if L.A. makes the playoffs, then Montreal will receive their own 4th round pick back that the Kings acquired from the Dwight King trade.
The 32-year-old has played 11 games with the Canadiens this season with no not many stats to show for it. No points, a plus/minus of 0, two penalty minutes, and an average ice time of 9:18 on the struggling Canadiens.
Mitchell, historically, has been used as a bottom six forward. Throughout his 12 year career, he has 61 goals and 141 points in 617 games played. He is known as someone who plays well in his own end as he averages 1:12 on the PK and his defensive zone starts was at 70.5% last season.
As for right now, it fills up the Kings 23 man roster. This will be interesting as Marian Gaborik is on the verge of returning to the line up. This will mean someone will have to be either let go or sent back down to the AHL's Ontario Reign.
The easy move is to send Jonny Brodzinski back to the Reign but Brooks Laich has been out of the lineup for the last four games.
Los Angeles Kings Blogger • 
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