Waking up with the Kings: October 12

During a sloppy, turnover-filled first period not atypical of very early regular season hockey, the Kings were close to padding a late two-goal lead before a failed clearing attempt on a penalty kill led to a Coyotes goal and a one-goal difference heading into the first intermission. The final 70 seconds of the opening period set the stage for a second period Arizona surge and eventual win, and credit Devan Dubnyk for making big saves when he had to. His poke check on Jeff Carter, and the skittering puck that eluded Tyler Toffoli on the backhand were followed 15 seconds later by a Tanner Pearson penalty. The Kings didn’t play an excellent 20 minutes of hockey by any stretch, but they were an opportunistic team at the time that had a chance to take a three-nothing lead on the road. Instead, Matt Greene’s clearing attempt was gloved and knocked down by Keith Yandle, and Antoine Vermette deftly deflected his point shot past Quick in a significant two-goal swing over roughly 40 seconds of action. After Mike Smith allowed six goals on Thursday, Dubnyk allowed two goals on his first seven shots faced before settling into the game and making big saves when called upon; he also kept the game tied late in regulation with a right pad save on Toffoli’s angled break deep into the Arizona zone.

Los Angeles Kings v Arizona Coyotes

That 70’s Line™ supplied the Kings with energy and the most pristine scoring chances. On the other hand, the Kopitar line was still a work in progress. This was fairly predictable; as Darryl Sutter noted yesterday, Marian Gaborik missed virtually the entire preseason after his early-training camp muscle injury and had taken part in very few battle and compete drills at the end of camp. There’s not going to be the instant connection amongst the team’s top line than there had been during late season and the playoffs. Still, it’s a bit jarring to see the pressing of the Gaborik-Kopitar “reset button” after the palpable chemistry they had built up last spring.

Los Angeles Kings v Arizona Coyotes

Jonathan Quick was excellent, not that he needed to prove anything to the Kings following a shaky start on Wednesday, as Darryl Sutter noted. His 37 saves on 40 shots earned Los Angeles a point in a game in which they were outplayed significantly in the second period and never held a shots on goal advantage. Even while the Kings held a first period lead, they weren’t holding the upper hand territorially, and while Dubnyk made big saves when he had to, Quick made outstanding saves through the entire game to simply give L.A. a chance to remain in it.

Los Angeles Kings v Arizona Coyotes

Special teams were a concern in a game in which the Kings failed to score while on the man advantage and ceded two while shorthanded, though a day after they worked on special teams and power play transitions, their zone entries while on the power play were very good. In zone, there weren’t a bevy of Grade-A chances generated, and when there was an opportunity to win the game outright late in regulation, Dubnyk made the saves he had to.

I’m working on a pair of projects through Wednesday outside of LAKI that will command attention early in the week. There will still be quotes, stories and previews, though posting may be a touch more spread out, and at this point it’s probable that I won’t be posting WUWTK on Monday and Wednesday due to my outside obligations. Together We Will Get Through This.

Los Angeles Kings v Arizona Coyotes

Rules for Blog Commenting

  • No profanity, slurs or other offensive language. Replacing letters with symbols does not turn expletives into non-expletives.
  • Personal attacks against other blog commenters, and/or blatant attempts to antagonize other comments, are not tolerated. Respectful disagreement is encouraged. Posts that continually express the same singular opinion will be deleted.
  • Comments that incite political, religious or similar debates will be deleted.
  • Please do not discuss, or post links to websites that illegally stream NHL games.
  • Posting under multiple user names is not allowed. Do not type in all caps. All violations are subject to comment deletion and/or banning of commenters, per the discretion of the blog administrator.

Repeated violations of the blog rules will result in site bans, commensurate with the nature and number of offenses.

Please flag any comments that violate the site rules for moderation. For immediate problems regarding problematic posts, please email zdooley@lakings.com.