FINAL – Kings 3, Bruins 2 (OT) – Athanasiou, Petersen, McLellan

The LA Kings came from behind late to force overtime, before eventually winning it in the extra session, in a 3-2 overtime victory on Monday evening at TD Garden.

Forward Andreas Athanasiou scored the overtime winner, making it two straight games with a goal, while forwards Blake Lizotte and Trevor Moore scored in regulation. Goaltender Cal Petersen won for the second straight day, as he turned aside 30 of the 32 shots he faced in the victory.

After a physical, aggressive start to the game, Boston opened the scoring just over 14 minutes in, through forward Travis Frederic. After a cycle shift below the goal line, forward Charlie Coyle hit an open Frederic in the slot, who fired home for the goal, through light contact in front against goaltender Cal Petersen.

The Kings responded on the next shift, however, as Lizotte buried his eighth goal of the season to knot the score at one. Less than a minute after the game-opening goal, defenseman Olli Maatta drove down the left-wing wall and centered the puck, with Lizotte working his way into a gritty area and firing home for the equalizer.

After a quick-moving period, in the same, physical nature of the opening 20 minutes, Boston scored the only goal of the middle stanza to take a 2-1 lead into the second intermission. With the same forward line on the ice, Smith worked his way into an open area in the slot, where Coyle fed him the puck, and he finished high blocker for his 11th goal of the season and the second point of the evening for both he and Coyle.

With less than a minute to play and Petersen on the bench for the extra attacker, the Kings found a way to force overtime, through Moore. After a won faceoff in the offensive zone, the puck made its way to Arthur Kaliyev, who saw his one timer stopped, but the rebound fell directly to Moore in front, where he tapped it in for the game-tying goal.

In the 3-on-3 extra session, the Kings found a way to get the victory through Athanasiou. With open ice, Athanasiou picked off a pass in his own end, used his speed to go the length of the ice and finished on the blocker side for the goal, giving the Kings the two points.

Hear from Athanasiou, Cal Petersen and Todd McLellan following tonight’s game.

*Defenseman Mikey Anderson left tonight’s game with an upper-body injury and did not return.

Andreas Athanasiou

Post-game winner🔥@LAKings | #GoKingsGo pic.twitter.com/rOJCblPPYT

— Bally Sports West (@BallySportWest) March 8, 2022

Cal Petersen
On the team’s ability to come back in just about any situation this season
Yeah, 100 percent. We’re putting a lot of different tricks in our bag to find ways to win and I think that’s only going to help us down the road. Now that we’ve figured out how to win in these situations, or need to comeback in the third period, I don’t think anybody panics. Everyone know what their job is, what we need to do and it all comes down to execution. I think there’s a lot of belief in each other right now.

On starting on back-to-back nights
I felt great. I’ve played a lot of back-to-backs in my life, I was comfortable in the situation, but it was also a little bit different because there were more than 24 hours between games, a little bit of extra rest. I felt fine, I enjoy playing back-to-back, it’s nice to kind of carry over a good game into another one. I was happy I got the nod.

On if the team had any extra motivation, considering the loss to Boston last week
That was a huge thing coming into the game for us. We got embarrassed at home, against a team that is a phenomenal hockey team, one of the best in the league, and we feel like we should be right there. I think for us to put in an effort like that, where we got blown out, wasn’t acceptable for us and we came in with something to prove, to show that we can play with the big boys. We want to be one of those top teams at the end of the year, it’s huge for our confidence, but we were looking for some revenge.

On Todd McLellan coming back behind the bench tonight
It was great. I think it was seamless when he left and Yawns came in, and he did a phenomenal job. I think the guys are very comfortable with the coaching staff, so he did a phenomenal job. When Todd came back, it went seamlessly back to how it was. We have a lot of confidence in our coaching staff, regardless of who needs to step up, it’s the same with guys who are out, it’s that next person up mentality. It was great to have him back and I’m glad he’s healthy now.

On if he feels he’s finding a groove over this last extended stretch of play
Yeah, I mean I’m just taking things day-by-day. For me, I don’t really feel like anything has drastically changed from the beginning of the year, just getting some better results, I’m playing a few more games and I’m more confident. I think, when I wasn’t getting the results I wanted, it was just little adjustments that were going to be the difference, that was something that I focused on. It’s a day-to-day thing, I think Quickie and I, whoever is in the net, the team has a lot of confidence in.

Todd McLellan
On re-joining the team for such a competitive game
It was a competitive game, right from the drop of the puck to the bitter end. It was contested very hard by both teams, a lot of board work, wall work, heavy lifting for both teams. It’s good for our team to play in that, really good for our team to play in it, stick with it and we found a way to get two in the last few minutes of the game. We used every minute we had, which was important.

On if he felt there was a point the Kings responded to the game’s physicality
I thought the first maybe seven, ten minutes of the game was a bit of a feeling-out process and we were maybe receiving a little bit. Dumps, retrievals, spending a little bit more time on our heels than on our toes. I thought the Lizotte/Grundstrom line started to grind a little bit, get the forecheck going, then we settled in after that. From there on, there wasn’t a lot of space in that game. Two pretty good defensive teams that committed to playing that way, good goaltending at both ends. It was a typical playoff game in my opinion.

On having the full group contribute tonight
Everybody was important tonight. All four lines, it didn’t matter if somebody played 12 minutes and somebody else played 20, everybody was important. At the backend of a road trip, 4-in-6, we’ve done that two weeks in a row, you need the full team. That’s one thing that we’ve got going for us right now, everybody does play an important role, most guys are accepting of their role and it’s working well for us.

On the team’s response when going down
Like I said, we used every minute. We gave up a goal in the last minute of a period again, which isn’t great, but they forced us into a mistake and took advantage of it. It gave us a chance to regroup a little bit, we stuck to a game plan, we knew we couldn’t open it up. Finally, it took an extra player, Boston checked that well, and it took an extra player to find a loose puck in and around the net and in overtime, anything can happen.

On Cal Petersen’s play on the second half of a back-to-back
The one thing [with Boston] is they shoot the puck a lot, there’s a lot of similarities between the two teams in my opinion. They have volume shooting and they crash the net well, the shoot and get it back, so not only did Cal have to make the first save, but he had to be quick to react to the second ones that may be coming from a bad angle. He did a good job back-to-back.

Notes –
– Goaltender Cal Petersen started games on back-to-back nights for the first time this season and the fifth time in his NHL career. Petersen made 30 saves to win for the fifth time in six starts and the eighth time in ten starts.
– Forward Andreas Athanasiou scored for the second consecutive game with the overtime game-winner, his fifth career overtime goal.
– Forward Trevor Moore scored his 10th goal of the season in the final minute of regulation, reaching double-digit goals for the second straight season.
– Forward Arthur Kaliyev collected the primary assist on the game-tying goal, giving him four points (2-2-4) from four games played on the trip.
– Defenseman Sean Durzi played a career-high 24:55 tonight, while Matt Roy’s team-leading 26:52 was his third-highest total of the season.

The Kings are scheduled to fly back to Los Angeles this evening. Tomorrow is a scheduled off day for the team, with practice set to resume on Wednesday morning at 11 AM from Toyota Sports Performance Center.