FINAL – Kings 1, Flames 2 – Kopitar, Danault, McLellan

The LA Kings finally saw their 12-game point streak come to an end in Calgary, after a closely-contested 2-1 defeat against the Flames.

The Kings lone goal came from defenseman Sean Durzi, his eighth goal of the season, while forwards Arthur Kaliyev and Carl Grundstrom each collected assists on the play. Goaltender Joonas Korpisalo made 30 saves on 32 shots in his first regulation loss with the Kings.

Calgary opened the scoring with a power-play goal less than two minutes into the game. An Elias Lindholm shot from the left-hand circle hit off the chest of Flames forward Mikael Backlund in front and the puck dropped right onto the stick of Flames forward Andrew Mangiapane, who knocked it in for the game-opening goal, his 15th tally of the season.

The Kings pushed back through their fourth line, however, to knot the game at one midway through the opening period. Off the rush, a series of one-touch passes set up Durzi in the slot, where he fired his shot over the blocker of Calgary netminder Jacob Markstrom for his eighth goal of the season and a 1-1 scoreline.

The Flames took a 2-1 lead into the first intermission, courtesy of a goal late in the opening 20 minutes. Calgary rushed up the ice 2-on-2 and forward Trevor Lewis fired a shot wide off the endboards, but the puck ricocheted directly to forward Walker Duehr driving the net, where he slotted home at the near post for his sixth goal of the season.

Neither team scored in the final 40 minutes of the game, finishing at a 2-1 final. Calgary had three goals called back on the evening, including one after a length review in the second period, when it was determined that there was not conclusive evidence of the puck crossing the goal line. The Kings closest look in the final two periods came from Carl Grundstrom, who hit the post late in the second period off the rush.

Hear from Phillip Danault, Anze Kopitar and Head Coach Todd McLellan following tonight’s game.

Anze Kopitar

Phillip Danault
On what he felt Calgary did tonight to make things difficult on the Kings
They played good, I don’t think we played our game at all though, but they definitely played better. They were tighter defensively and their goalie was really good as well, that was a big difference tonight.

On the team’s mindset in the third, chasing the tying goal
I thought we played pretty well in the third, but we’ve got to capitalize on our chances. We had a lot of Grade-A’s, but their goalie was probably the first star tonight.

On his biggest takeaways tonight going into Edmonton on Thursday
Just capitalize on our chances, play a little bit more aggressive and don’t think about it too much. Overall, it wasn’t that bad of a game, they played well and we didn’t play too badly, but we’ve got to be better.

Todd McLellan
On tonight’s game and how he felt it went for the Kings
On our behalf, there wasn’t a lot of o-zone time, yet we had some really good scoring chances. Long chances that had us looking at Markstrom, who made some really good saves. At the other end, we spent too much time in our end and I thought our game management, for the first time in a long time, was was poor. We were willing to extend shifts to look for offense and then it cost us many minutes in our zone after that. Certainly something we can fix. Not our best, but yet a game that we had a chance to win.

On the play of both goaltenders tonight
If both goaltenders weren’t the first and second star, in whatever order you want to pick, I don’t know who would be. They both played well, Korpi made some really good saves for us. He gave us a chance to have those good looks at the other end and it’s unfortunate we couldn’t reward him with at least one to get him a point.

On the two even strength goals tonight, one each way
Well, the goal for was a tremendous goal. The goal against was almost the exact play, but the ice was too tight to to pull up in that situation and we had two D joining the rush, it’s cardinal sin. Again, game management. We don’t need two D, we don’t need to make it a 5-on-3, 4-on-3 is fine and then we didn’t play the carrom off the wall very well.

On mentality changes made in the third period
We rolled our lines over a little bit quicker, they were committed to coming off. It’s noble to want to be on the ice, especially when you’re down and trying to score, but the longer you stay out the more pain you cause the team sometimes. Fixable. We payid the price for it tonight and we’ll pay the price for it down the road if we don’t behave properly.

On moving Fiala and Moore around tonight
I thought that Phil’s line was giving up a lot and wasn’t getting quite enough at the other end, so we tried to flip them around. I’m not sure if that helped or not.

Notes
– Sean Durzi scored his eighth goal of the season for his third point over his last two games (1-2-3). Durzi is tied with Drew Doughty for the second most goals by a defenseman this season.
– Arthur Kaliyev and Carl Grundstrom each collected assists. Grundstrom’s helper was his seventh of the year, establishing a new single season career high.
– Goaltender Joonas Korpisalo made 30 saves on 32 shots, his most as a member of the Kings, as he dropped his first game in regulation as a member of the organization.
– Forward Adrian Kempe led the Kings with four shots on goal, while Kempe and Kopitar had a team-leading six shot attempts.
– Defenseman Drew Doughty led all skaters with 27:41 in time on ice, while Kopitar led all forwards at 21:03.

The Kings are scheduled to hold a team practice at 11 AM at Rogers Place tomorrow in Edmonton.