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The Los Angeles Kings split their set of two games against the Seattle Kraken to end off their four-game homestand, beating the Kraken 4-2 on Saturday, before losing 6-1 last night.
On Saturday, the Kings started strong and outshot the Kraken 10-5 in the first period. Gabriel Vilardi then opened the scoring, tipping Olli Maatta’s shot past Philipp Grubauer, putting the Kings up by one heading into the intermission. The Kings extended their lead in the second period off a goal from Anze Kopitar and while the Kraken did respond, Jordan Spence’s first NHL goal restored the two-goal lead, putting the Kings up 3-1 after 40 minutes. Sean Durzi then extended the Kings’ lead on a power play in the third period and while Morgan Geekie scored in the dying seconds for Seattle, Los Angeles took the 4-2 win.
Then in yesterday’s game, the Kings fell behind early, allowing a goal just 14 seconds into the game. The Kings tied it up soon after with Arthur Kaliyev finishing off a great passing play on the power play, but Adam Larsson put a shot through traffic only a couple minutes after to put Seattle back ahead. Victor Rask then made it a two-goal game in the second period to put the Kraken up 3-1 heading into the final frame, where the Kings surrendered three goals to lose 6-1, despite putting 17 shots on goal in the frame.
The 6-1 loss was a disappointing end to the homestand, after going 2-0-1 through the first three games before that. It’s a bit of a missed opportunity, given the competition and a road-heavy schedule for the remainder of the season.
That said, we saw Jordan Spence score his first NHL goal on Saturday, which was great. Despite all the injuries during a pretty crucial time for the Kings given the unexpected success, it’s at least been nice seeing several prospects get a chance they otherwise wouldn’t have.
Blake Lizotte was also injured in the win on Saturday and didn’t play on Monday. With both Lizotte and Brendan Lemieux out, along with Andreas Athanasioiu and Dustin Brown, the Kings are really lacking offensive depth.
Los Angeles will be back in action tomorrow against the Edmonton Oilers in the first game of a back-to-back in Alberta.
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