FINAL – Kings 2, Flames 3 – Edler, McLellan

The Calgary Flames skated to a 3-2 victory over the LA Kings on Thursday evening at STAPLES Center, leaving the Kings with just one victory on their seven-game homestand.

Forward Alex Iafallo and defenseman Alex Edler each scored for the Kings in defeat, their fourth one-goal loss on the homestand.

The Kings got the scoring started through Iafallo, who got himself to the net and got his stick on an Edler shot from the left point, deflecting it past Calgary netminder Jakob Markstrom. The Kings scored for the fourth time in two periods via a deflection or rebound off a shot from the point, with Iafallo netting three of those goals.

Calgary struck back with two goals on the man advantage to take a 2-1 lead into the first intermission. First, the Kings were unable to clear a rebound out in front, with Mikael Backlund feeding Andrew Mangiapane in tight for a one-timed effort, tying the game at one. The visitors took their first lead of the evening with another goal on the PP, this through former King Milan Lucic. Lucic beat Kings netminder Cal Petersen through the five hole for his seventh goal of the season.

The Flames extended their advantage to a pair through forward Matthew Tkachuk, who got on the board early in the third period. Tkachuk moved in off the right wing, cut into the slot and fired past Petersen on the glove side for his 11th goal of the season.

The hosts pulled one back just before the second intermission, however, as Edler scored the 100th goal of his NHL career to bring the Kings back within a goal. Edler took a drop pass from Viktor Arvidsson, skated into a prime scoring area and snapped his shot past Markstrom for his first tally of the season.

Neither team scored in the third period, bringing the game to a conclusion at 3-2 Calgary.

Hear from Edler and Head Coach Todd McLellan after the game.

Alex Edler

On the difference right now between a one-goal win and a one-goal loss
I think it always comes down to little things, the little details in a game, little mistakes here and there. Whether it’s getting the puck behind them, turning the puck over here and there. If you do that too many times, eventually you’re going to get punched.

On getting the 100th goal of his NHL career
It was nice to score a goal. I don’t care too much about the number of it, it’s been a long, long time since I scored a goal, so that was nice. I obviously would have much rather had the win.

On what he saw on the play leading up to his goal
I just saw an opportunity to beat my guy up the ice. Arvy made a great play, he opened up a lot of space for me and I shot it and it went in.

On in-game adjustments the team made during the game
No, I think we just talked about playing the way that we needed to play to be successful. It’s pretty simple. Play aggressive, try to be on them, get our forecheck going to create turnovers.

Todd McLellan

On the little details and little mistakes that Edler mentioned
Walking in, I was thinking “what am I telling you guys tonight?” It seems like we’re talking about the same thing. Close, pretty good effort, playing against a pretty good team, don’t get to three, give up three. Today, the two goals on the penalty kill, I’m not even sure they’re mistakes. The first one is rattling around and they find it, the second one, I think the mistake was made up ice, by trying to force offense and the play broke down. Third one, turnover, they transition well, they’re a quick team right now and they did that. A couple of scramble goals on the penalty kill, one that’s very preventable on the turnover and not enough offense.

On the Iafallo – Danault – Arvidsson line
I think they’ve played well. They’ve been able to be responsible defensively, but they’ve got some pace in their game right now. Puck movement, tenacity and Arvy’s doing a real good job of providing some quickness to the line, the other two are smart and protect pucks. That line is fine and they’ve been the line that’s been scoring a little bit lately too.

On the feeling of a 3-1 deficit against a team like Calgary
Well, we certainly didn’t want to be in that situation, but I thought getting the second one gave us a little bit more life and belief. Right to the end, we forced the goaltender to make some saves and scramble around. Maybe a little more polish in and around the net. I think about our power-play opportunities, Brownie had a real good deflection off that back post, he was all alone, those types of goals have to go in for us right now so we can afford mistakes, as Alex Edler was talking about. They’re not going in offensively, so we’ve got to almost play perfect defensively, so we’re chasing our tail a little bit.

On the feeling of a 3-1 deficit against a team like Calgary
We’re a results-based industry and we’re leaving without two points, not even getting one. We’ve been in that situation far too many times over the last little bit. It’s a tough time right now, because if you’re bad, you’re really bad, you can go after the group and fix things, but we’re so close. As Alex Edler said, I think he probably put it best, it’s just one small mistake that costs you. We’ve got to get on the other side of that small mistake.

Notes –

– Alex Edler (1-1-2) scored his 100th career NHL goal and recorded his ninth assist of the season, most among team defensemen. Edler has six points (1-5-6) over the last six games and leads all Kings defensemen in scoring this season.
– Edler tallied his 39th and 40th career points against Calgary, his most against any one NHL opponent.
– Forward Viktor Arvidsson extended his point streak to four games with a pair of assists this evening. Tonight was Arvidsson’s 400th career NHL game.
– Forward Alex Iafallo scored his team-leading ninth goal of the season, his third in two games.
– Defenseman Drew Doughty logged 26:45 of ice time in his second game back from injury to once again lead all skaters.

The Kings are scheduled to return to the ice tomorrow at 11 AM for practice at Toyota Sports Performance Center.

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