FINAL – Kings 0, Bruins 7 – Iafallo, Yawney

The LA Kings weren’t able to get much going against the Boston Bruins, as they fell by a 7-0 final on Monday evening at Crypto.com Arena.

Goaltender Jonathan Quick made 14 saves in defeat, while Cal Petersen stopped 11 shots in relief as the Kings were shutout for the fourth time this season.

The Bruins struck twice in the first period, both through forward Jake DeBrusk, to take a 2-0 lead into the first intermission. Just over a minute into the game, DeBrusk was able to beat Quick with a long wrist shot off the rush, from the right wing, to open the scoring just 61 seconds in. DeBrusk struck again midway through the first period, as he picked off a Mikey Anderson pass in the slot and snapped a shot off Quick’s glove and in, his second of the game.

DeBrusk completed his hat trick 53 seconds into the second period, as he got a deflection on a Patrice Bergeron shot from the sideboards for his third goal of the contest. The goal prompted a lengthy video review, for a potential high stick, but the goal was eventually allowed to stand.

Boston tacked on two more just over a minute apart, midway through the middle stanza, to open up a five-goal advantage at the second intermission.

First, just six seconds into a power play, David Pastrnak fired a one-timer from the left point that Bergeron deflected on the way, over the glove of Quick and in, for his 15th goal of the season. Forward Taylor Hall scored 62 seconds later, as he led a 2-on-1 rush, kept the puck himself and scored through the five hole to extend the Kings deficit to five. Following Hall’s goal, Cal Petersen replaced Jonathan Quick between the pipes.

Boston forward Erik Haula scored twice in the third period to tack on an additional pair against the Kings. Haula’s first came on the man advantage, a redirection from the top of the crease, off an assist by Charlie Coyle. The Finnish centerman struck again off a 2-on-1 rush, putting home a feed from Hall for his team’s seventh of the evening.

Hear from Alex Iafallo and Trent Yawney following tonight’s loss.

Alex Iafallo
On losing a game like tonight’s following a strong run of form
We’re upset, that’s a loss that we don’t want, to lose that big, we’re going to have to look ourselves in the mirror and learn from our mistakes. It was a good run, so at the same time we have to stay positive, but we have to come back tomorrow and be ready to rock and roll.

On what went wrong early in the game
It just wasn’t the start [we needed] and I feel like our special teams needed to get us going and we didn’t get a goal on the first power play. The end result is not what we wanted it to be.

On what are things the team focuses on late in a lopsided game like that
Just trying to stick together, have good shifts that roll into the next game. Obviously we’re going on the road, so we wanted a good third period. We’re going to play them [again] coming up here pretty soon, so we have to watch video and be ready for that game.

On what went wrong on the power play tonight
Just not getting shots through. I feel like we had one good chance, but Juice just kind of missed it there. We’ve got to work on getting the puck back and got more shots. 5-on-3, that’s a big momentum changer and we needed to get a goal there. Not getting one there definitely deflated us, so we have to work on that, get more shots through and get tips in front.

On having confidence the team will bounce back, considering recent history
For sure. We talked about it after the game, these losses, we have to learn from them quick. We’re pissed off, that’s a huge loss, and we’ve got to bounce back, stay positive and learn from our mistakes.

Trent Yawney
On if it’s better to lose a game like that, than a nailbiting one
Obviously you don’t want to lose, but we had nothing. Give them credit, that’s five in a row for them, they’re at the top of their game. Now, our group knows what it’s like to play against themselves.

On what Boston did well to make life difficult on the Kings
It was hard to get through the neutral zone. When we refused to lay it in behind their D and forecheck, we turned it over and they transitioned the puck. Good team, deep team. Again, we just didn’t play to our identity tonight, in any facet of the game.

On when he realized the Kings didn’t have it tonight
Well, the first goal, I think Quickie would love to have that one back, and then there were a few hanging around our net, and I thought well, is it going to be one of those nights? Todd and I talked this afternoon, even the third period against the Islanders, you could see it start to creep in a little bit. We knew it was around the corner, I didn’t know if it was going to be tonight, but it was coming, because we were getting away with some things that we weren’t getting away with earlier, and wound up with a win. Now, we’ve got to reset again and start all over. We’re going on the road against some real good opponents, and we’ll have to get our game back really quickly.

On what he’d like to see in a bounceback
Get back to our game. In the last couple of games prior to this game, all four lines had an impact, we talked about that the other night. I don’t know if there was anybody that had an impact tonight. Not that they weren’t trying, but the other team was good. They were in our face and we couldn’t get anything generated in and around their net. They got a couple of lucky breaks with goals, if you want to say that, and they just built off of that.

On if the recent stretch of strong play gives him confidence tonight will be quickly forgotten
I would like to think so. [Crap], this happens to all of the teams, it happened to Calgary the other night and they came back. You learn from it, I hope our younger guys learn from it. The older guys have been through stuff like this before, but our young guys need to understand that, and that’s basically what we told them after the second period. It’s a tough league and we can’t feel sorry for ourselves and now we have a pretty good idea of what you’re like to play against. Like someone said, you’ve just got to throw it in the garbage and move forward. We’re going to have practice tomorrow and then we’ve got four in six nights coming up, they’re coming every other night and I think that’s a good thing too. You don’t have too much time to dwell on one game and you’ve got to get ready for Dallas now.

On the second goal against, and the 5-on-3 power play
You don’t see that out of Mikey very often, but at the same time, they’re good at what they do. They kind of sit in the weeds and then they jump out on top of you. It wasn’t a great read on his part, but at the same time, he’d probably like to have that play back, that’s probably one in three years I’ve seen from him. I thought that if we got one on the power play, the 5-on-3, that it could have changed the momentum a little bit. We had the chance, they set up the look that we wanted and Kempe kind of missed his shot, and we really didn’t get anything done after that. I thought that was an opportunity to get some energy and some momentum built.

Notes –

– The Kings outshot their opponent for the 21st consecutive game, tying the second-longest streak in NHL history since shots began being tracked during the 1959-60 season. It is the longest such streak since St. Louis during the 2001-02 season.
– Defenseman Sean Durzi and forwards Adrian Kempe and Anze Kopitar led the Kings with four shots on goal apiece this evening.
– The Kings were shutout for the fourth time this season and the first time since December 6 in Vancouver.

The Kings are scheduled to practice tomorrow at Toyota Sports Performance Center before they travel to Dallas to take on the Stars on Wednesday evening.