FINAL – Kings 2, Rangers 3 (SO) – Kopitar, McLellan

The LA Kings opened up a six-game roadtrip with three of a possible four points, following a 3-2 shootout defeat against the New York Rangers.

Forwards Blake Lizotte and Alex Iafallo scored for the Kings this evening, while Jonathan Quick made 28 saves, in addition to three in the shootout, to earn a hard-fought point.

The Rangers opened the scoring inside the final two seconds of play in the first period to take a 1-0 lead into the intermission. With New York on an extended power play, Chris Kreider worked his way to the top of the crease and put home a feed from Adam Fox to get the hosts on the board.

The Kings fought back with a pair of goals in the second period, including one on the power play, to take a 2-1 lead after 40 minutes.

First, a tremendous individual effort from Blake Lizotte saw the centerman carry the puck into the offensive zone, cut into the slot and rip a shot high blocker on Shesterkin for his sixth goal of the season. Then, inside the final minute of the middle stanza, Iafallo broke the deadlock with a power-play goal, as he buried his own rebound from close range to put the Kings on top heading into the second intermission.

New York tied the game with 5:45 remaining in regulation, as forward Barclay Goodrow tallied his eighth goal of the season. Forward Artemi Panarin, stationed at the left point, fired a shot on goal that Goodrow deflected from in close, up and over Quick, to equalize the game.

After a scoreless overtime, the Kings and Rangers took part in a six-round shootout, with New York eventually winning out. Forwards Anze Kopitar and Quinton Byfield scored for the Kings, but Adam Fox buried the game-deciding goal in round six to seal the bonus point.

Hear from Kopitar and Head Coach Todd McLellan following tonight’s game.

Anze Kopitar

On a hard-fought point on the road
Very bittersweet in that regard, we’ll certainly take the point, but on that second goal against, I’ve got to do a better job of making sure the guy doesn’t get a stick on it. All in all, three our of four on the first two games of the roadtrip is not bad, we’ll take them and regroup for Thursday.

On the power-play goal and his thoughts on the PP moving the puck tonight
It’s the moving around part that’s a little bit deceiving, we’ve got to attack a little bit more, so I thought in the second period, we got the shots off. Our toes and our sticks were pointing towards the net, which was a good thing.

On Jonathan Quick’s play tonight, and his play at MSG
Yeah, it’s always something about that guy, especially in MSG, that obviously brings out the best in him. We’ve been fortunate enough for 14 years to have a front-row seat to that, so it hasn’t changed a whole lot.

On the team’s effort over these 2 games
We’ve been playing good hockey, maybe the record doesn’t show that quite well, but we’ve been playing decent hockey. It’s just putting all the pieces together to get the win.

On Blake Lizotte’s goal and his offensive play
Obviously very nice. Great move and a great shot. He’s, I think, a little bit more confident with the puck now, he’s seen a few pucks hit the back of the net. That always helps.

On getting three of a possible four points
It’s bittersweet. Yeah, three out of four is okay, and I guess if it was the other way around, if we got one yesterday and two today, I’d have been a little bit happier sitting in front of you guys here. In the grand scheme of things though, if we can get three out of four on the rest of the trip, it’s going to be a pretty good trip. Obviously you want to get the two points, and you’re not satisfied, but we’ll take the one.

Todd McLellan

On a hard-fought point on the road
Yeah, for us, we’ll take the point. A back-to-back is never easy, especially against that team. I thought we had the perfect start, really, if you could describe a road game. We were checking really well, coming out of our end clean, I think we had them at the point where they were a little bit frustrated. The penalty kind of swung that a bit. No intent on the penalty, I don’t think Pep was maliciously trying to do anything, but it did swing the game and a lot of the momentum. It also tested our resolve and we stuck with it. Couldn’t quite hang on at the end, but our penalty kill came up big in the last two minutes to preserve at least a point. When it gets to the shootout, toss a coin.

On how the team checked tonight against a skilled opponent and if he feels the Kings stuck to the gameplan going in
We did. They have basically six dynamic players up front and some really good backend guys, so they’re going to get chances. You can check as well as you want and they’re going to get some chances, and I thought that’s where Quickie came up big. For the most part, I’m quite happy with the effort and quite happy with the type of game we attempted to play. To hold that team to, I think they had 16 even-strength shots on goal through 65 minutes, that probably doesn’t happen very often. A lot of their life and energy came through the power play, which it naturally will with all the talent they have.

On the power play tonight
We didn’t like much early, on the first power play. We talked about it in between periods, adjusting a little bit, and we started to play with a little bit more pace. The goal itself was a downhill attack, a secondary opportunity, which a lot of power-play goals are now. That was good to see.

On fighting through late in the third to force overtime and if that’s a sign of growth
Yeah, I think it is, although you have to remember we have some solid veterans who have been through those situations, so there’s a calming influence, starting with the goaltender tonight. I think the resilience at the end of the game was a carryover from the resilience going into the second period. To get scored on with a second left, we felt, the group, or at least I felt really good about our play at that point. It could have went the other way, but we slugged it out with them, penalty killed well and found a way to get the next one. If we had any natural touch in and around the net we probably would have had another one or two but the goaltender was outstanding.

On the pace and intensity in tonight’s game
It had a little bit of everything, it almost felt like a rivalry game for two teams that are on opposite coasts. I’m not sure it started that way, but it built into that. I thought it was an entertaining game, even at the back end in the shootout, whether you believe in the shootout or not, there were a lot of people on their feet enjoying it.

On Blake Lizotte tonight and his goal
I thought that Lizzo was outstanding, and he has been basically all season. He’s getting rewarded more and more with offense, he drives a line regardless of who he plays with, gives us some good penalty killing, he was rewarded with some ice time in overtime tonight. Smart play, he used the defenseman as a screen, a little bit of a hesitation move and a good shot. He had to beat a good goaltender, so he used what he could and he put it in.

Notes –

– Forward Alex Iafallo extended his point streak to four games with his power-play goal. Iafallo also has seven points (3-4-7) over his last seven games played.
– With his second-period goal this evening, forward Blake Lizotte has now collected a point in all four games he’s played in his NHL career against the Rangers.
– With the secondary assist on Lizotte’s goal, forward Trevor Moore tallied his 13th point during the month of January, most amongst all Kings players.
– Jonathan Quick has now faced 18 shootout attempts this season, after the six-round shootout this evening, the second-most of any goaltender in the NHL. Quick has stopped 10 of those 18 attempts faced. On the evening, Quick made 28 saves on 30 shots in the SOL.
– The Kings scored a power-play goal for the third time in four games. The Kings also conceded a power-play goal for the sixth consecutive game.

The Kings are not scheduled to practice tomorrow. The team is slated to return to the ice on Wednesday on Long Island at 2 PM