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The Los Angeles Kings played three games over the last four days, picking up five points with wins over the New York Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins, and an overtime loss to the Philadelphia Flyers.
3-2 WIN OVER ISLANDERS
Against the Islanders, the Kings once again started strong, outshooting New York 9-3 in the opening frame. Then late in the period, Quinton Byfield ripped a wrist shot past Semyon Varlamov for his first NHL goal, giving the Kings a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes. The Islanders did rebound with a stronger second period but couldn’t convert and with just six seconds to go in the frame, Andreas Athanasiou put a great shot past Varlamov, extending Los Angeles’ lead.
It took until late in the third period for the Islanders to beat Cal Petersen, as Mathew Barzal got the Islanders on the board with just over two minutes to go. However, Adrian Kempe buried an empty net goal and while Casey Cizikas did score after that, the Kings took a 3-2 win.
4-3 OVERTIME LOSS TO FLYERS
Despite a pretty solid opening frame against Philadelphia, it was the Flyers who struck first, as Gerry Mayhew took a pass from Rasmus Ristolainen and beat Jonathan Quick. The Flyers then extended their lead in the second period, when Quick couldn’t handle a bouncing shot and Cam Atkinson went to the net to put in the rebound. The Kings did get on the board before the end of the frame though, as Viktor Arvidsson finished off a nice passing play from Phillip Danault and Sean Durzi.
In the third period, the teams were trading some good chances, but the Kings allowed a shorthanded goal to Cam Atkinson, to go back down by two. However, the Kings responded right away on the same power play, as Arthur Kaliyev’s shot deflected in off Arvidsson. Then late in the game, the Kings managed to tie it and send the game to overtime, as Anze Kopitar backhanded a shot under Carter Hart with just 37 seconds to go.
In overtime, however, the Flyers managed to snap their 13-game losing streak, as Scott Laughton shovelled a rebound past Quick to secure a 4-3 win for Philadelphia.
4-3 WIN OVER PENGUINS
Today’s game against the Penguins saw a relatively even opening frame, though Cal Petersen had to be good to stop some dangerous chances of the rush. Alex Iafallo opened the scoring for the Kings early in the second period, wiring a one-timer past Tristan Jarry, off a pass from Anze Kopitar. However, the Penguins tied the game on a power play before the halfway mark of the frame, as Evgeni Malkin got a pass to Sidney Crosby, who beat Cal Petersen. Trevor Moore got the Kings their lead back just a couple minutes later though, as Jacob Moverare got a pass up to Trevor Moore, who put a perfectly placed backhand shot over Jarry, making it 2-1 Kings. Then just a bit after that, Kopitar got the puck to Drew Doughty on a rush, who buried the pick past Jarry.
Bryan Rust did cut the Kings' lead to a single goal about six minutes into the third period, spinning around and firing a shot through traffic and past Petersen. Then just a few minutes later, Rust struck again on a power play, banking the puck in off Drew Doughty’s skate to tie the game. However, the Kings still outplayed the Penguins through a lot of the frame and were rewarded, as Trevor Moore took a pass from Blake Lizotte and went in alone, beating Jarry to give the Kings the lead once more. Los Angeles managed to hang on from there, taking a 4-3 win.
Over the road trip, the Kings have managed to pick up eight of 10 possible points and just went 2-0-1 in their three games over four days. It’s an impressive stretch and helps the Kings as they continue to battle in the Western Conference playoff race.
The win over the Islanders marked Drew Doughty’s 1000th NHL game, as well Andreas Athanasiou’s return to the lineup.
However, the Kings’ defense group continues to have injury/illness troubles, as Mikey Andersen left the game against Philadelphia and has since been placed on injured reserve, while Matt Roy is in COVID protocol. Essentially, if you compare the defense group now to what the group was projected to look like at the beginning of the year (with the absences of Alex Edler and Sean Walker as well), Drew Doughty and Tobias Bjornfot are really the only two regular defenders in the lineup right now.
That said, Jacob Moverare suited up for his second NHL game today and I thought he looked good. It was his stretch pass that sprung Trevor Moore on a rush for the Kings’ second goal, while he was also quite good defensively.
The Kings did give up yet another shorthanded goal in their loss to the Flyers, which puts them at seven shorthanded goals allowed this year, tying them for the most in the NHL.
That said, Los Angeles is managing to pick up points on their road trip and the win over Pittsburgh today was a really strong effort. They’ll wrap up the road trip on Wednesday against the Detroit Red Wings.
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