FINAL – Kings 4, Golden Knights 2 – Iafallo, Danault, Arvidsson, McLellan

The LA Kings extended their point streak to six games with a 4-2 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday evening at Crypto.com Arena.

The Kings got multi-point nights from each member of their second line, as Viktor Arvidsson, Phillip Danault and Alex Iafallo each had both a goal and an assist, with Arvidsson and Danault each posting three-point nights. Goaltender Pheonix Copley improved to 7-1-0 this season with 23 saves the victory.

The Kings opened the scoring midway through the opening period, through forward Gabe Vilardi, who tallied for the second time from two games this season against the Golden Knights. Forward Blake Lizotte intercepted a mistimed Vegas reverseal behind the net and found Vilardi in the slot, who buried the shot first time on the glove side for his team-leading 15th goal of the season.

Vegas equalized just over a minute later, however, as former Kings forward Michael Amadio tied the game at one. With the visitors on the power play, shortly after Vilardi’s goal, defenseman Alex Pietrangelo fed Amadio in the left-hand circle, where he wired a one-timer past Kings netminder Pheonix Copley for the game-tying goal.

The Golden Knights took their first lead of the evening just past the halfway point of the second period, opening up a 2-1 advantage. The Kings nearly survived a scramble, on which Copley’s stick was displaced from his control, but defenseman Brayden McNabb crashed in from the left point to score his first goal of the season off of the extended sequence.

The hosts fought back, however, to knot the score at two heading into the second intermission. Off a strong shift in the offensive zone, which included several puck retrievals, Arvidsson fed Danault at the back post for the goal, his tenth of the season. Arvidsson and Iafallo each tallied assists on the play, with Iafallo extending his point streak to four games in the process.

Iafallo made it a multi-point night just shy of the halfway point in the third period as he pulled the Kings ahead for the second time on the evening. Arvidsson hit Iafallo with a perfectly weighted pass off the rush, with the New York native burying on the glove side for his fifth goal of the season and a 3-2 advantage for the Kings.

Arvidsson iced the game inside a minute to play with the empty-net goal, with Danault assisting, the third point of the night for both individuals.

Alex Iafallo

Phillip Danault
On what he feels the identity of his line is right now
We haven’t been the best defensively, since the beginning of the year, but the last 10 games I think we’ve been really good. I think it starts from there. We take some pride defensively and then go in the o-zone and have some fun, do the right things, little details. By doing the right things defensively, we get more pressure in the o-zone. It’s weird to say, but that’s how it is and it’s been working.

On the little things he feels like his line is doing right now
Playing the right way, strong, win our battles, cycle, get speed. It starts with the D too, it’s three forwards, two defensemen and a goalie too.

On how he feels the Kings have turned things around since the third period in Buffalo
Just sticking to the system and doing the right things until the end. No matter what the score is, I think it was 0-0 in the third period against Buffalo, and we just have to stick to the system.

Viktor Arvidsson
On if he feels this was one of the best 60-minute efforts of the season for the Kings
Yeah, I think we played great. I think we started the game well, we were all over them at the start and I think that was that was good and the team kept it going.

On the team finding its game quickly tonight
Yeah, I think we won battles, and puck battles for sure. We were first on pucks tonight and we moved the puck quick and fast. It was just a good, overall effort.

On what he saw on Iafallo’s game-winning goal, on which he picked up the primary assist
He flipped it, their D knocked it down, high stick and Phil got to it first. He chipped it to me and I was just trying to be poised and wait for Al to come into the play. I kind of saw him from behind and he finished, which was really good. [Reporter: From how far back did you Iafallo coming?] Pretty quick, yeah, I knew he was coming, I saw it develop and they forgot about him. I’m trying to look at Phil and wait for him to get that open space.

Todd McLellan
On tonight’s win
I thought we played a pretty good game all night. We got ourselves in a little bit of penalty trouble and they capitalized, they’re missing some players but they’re still a damn good team and we kept that group to 16 or 17 even-strength shots. That’s not a bad night for our group. We found a way to be patient, didn’t have to open it up, in the past that’s got us in trouble against that team, where we get loose and we get into a track meet.

On the team finding their game early coming out of the holiday break
I was impressed with our group the way we played early. We were fast, we executed well, our passing was crisp, we worked into position. Let’s call it what it is, [coming out of a break] it’s usually pretty or ugly and you have your fingers crossed that pretty shows up and that was the case for us in the first period. If you recall a year ago coming back, it was ugly against Vegas, so maybe somewhere in the back of their minds they remembered that. It was also a three day break versus a six or seven day break last year, so it makes a big difference.

On the team starting to find its way here over the last six games
We’re starting to mold our way into what I think we can be. When you use that word identity, we’re seeing it more often now, we understand the value of it and we’re accepting of it, which I’m not sure we were earlier. It hasn’t hurt us offensively, we still get our chances, but we’re able to stay in games longer. The game that Quickie gave us the other night and the games that Copley has given us have helped us immensely to. There’s a strong belief in that right now and that makes a big difference as well.

On getting timely saves from Pheonix Copley tonight
Any save is important, but there are some that stand out. Timing, sometimes it’s the player you make the same on, somebody that’s really hot or feeling it and all of a sudden you’ve made a big save against that individual, that gives the team of boost. Sometimes it can be the type of save. There’s a lot of simple saves, but there’s the desperation one that that a goaltender makes and that gives the team a boost. We’ve seen that from Phoenix, as well as Quickie the other night in Arizona.

On the team being on 99-point pace, where they finished last year, and if that surprises him
I’ve been asked that type of question a couple of times now in the last two or three weeks and I was never on that negative side. I was frustrated a few nights with our group and I might still be next week or the week after, whenever it comes again, but I didn’t feel like we were in in a funk or a disastrous situation by any means. The difference with the line of questioning right now is the expectations that sometimes the outside world has of us and we knew that was coming this year. We have 20 wins, tonight was our 20th win, we’ll take it and we have to continue to build. Last year at this time, 20 wins, we were planning the parade route. That’s the difference between 65 days and the addition of a player. I never felt we were wallowing is the word I’m looking for.

Notes –
– The Kings have now earned points in six consecutive games, their longest streak of the season. The Kings have also earned points in seven of their last eight games at Crypto.com Arena (5-1-2).
– Phillip Danault (1-2-3) registered his sixth multi-point effort of the season to extend his point streak to five games. Danault also extended his home point streak to five games to tie his career-long, previously set with Montreal from Nov. 28, 2019 to Dec. 11, 2019 (1-5-6).
– Alex Iafallo (1-1-2) extended his point streak to four games with his 27th career multi-point game, including his second game-winning goal of the season and 12th of his career.
– Viktor Arvidsson (1-2-3) recorded his third three-point game of the year. With tonight’s effort, Arvidsson (10-17-27) reached the 10-goal and 25-point plateau for a seventh consecutive season.
– Gabriel Vilardi scored his team-leading 15th goal of the year, for his fourth point in last five games (2-2-4). His goal marked his 23rd point of the season (15-8-23), tying his career-high for season scoring, previously set in 2020-21 campaign.
– Blake Lizotte earned an assist on Vilardi’s goal for his fourth point over his last four games (1-3-4).
– Pheonix Copley stopped 22-of-24 shots to establish his third career five-game winning streak and improve to 7-1-0 on the season. During his current streak, Copley has posted a .928 SV% and a 1.92 GAA.

The Kings will practice tomorrow at 10:30 AM at Toyota Sports Performance Center in El Segundo, before departing for Colorado later in the day.