FINAL – Kings 3, Avalanche 4 – Kempe, Byfield, McLellan

The LA Kings dropped their third straight game, a 4-3 defeat against the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday evening at Crypto.com Arena.

Forwards Adrian Kempe (2-1-3) and Anze Kopotar (0-3-3) each had three points on the Kings to lead the team offensively. Forward Viktor Arvidsson scored, on the power-play, in the loss.

Despite a heavy advantage in shots on goal, the Kings conceded the game’s first two goals within a span of 62 seconds in the middle stanza. First, a wonky play saw the Avalanche surge ahead less than two minutes into the second period. Denis Malgin’s shot deflected off the glass, off the top of the net, off the back of goaltender Pheonix Copley’s glove and in for the game-opening goal. Forward Alex Newhook made it 2-0 just over a minute later, as he slotted a breakaway through the fivehole for his 14th goal of the season.

The Kings punched back through their top forward line, getting on the board midway through the middle stanza. Kempe surged through the neutral zone, around a man at the blueline and into a dangerous area in the right-hand circle, where he pulled the puck onto his forehand and beat Colorado netminder Alexander Georgiev with a quick release for his 37th goal of the season.

Just over five minutes later, the Kings equalized with a power-play goal from Arvidsson, to send the game into the second intermission tied at two. With Colorado down a man, and a penalty killer missing their stick, the Kings moved the puck around the offensive zone, eventually finding Arvidsson on the left-hand wall. The Swede’s pass into the slot deflected off an Avalanche stick and in, tying the game at two with Arvidsson’s 26th goal of the season.

Colorado opened the third period with a pair of goals in quick succession, as it took its second, two-goal lead of the game. First, off of an offensive-zone faceoff win, forward Brad Hunt snapped a quick wrist shot past Copley, immediately off the draw, for the 3-2 advantage. Malgin added his second of the game on a back-door tap-in, off a well-placed assist from forward Valeri Nichushkin, for a 4-2 scoreline.

Kempe once again pulled the Kings back to within a goal, however, as he buried another wrist shot off the rush for a multi-goal effort. Working his way down the right wing, Kempe used his eyes to look off the goaltender and fired a heavy shot through traffic and in for his second tally of the evening and his team-leading 38th goal of the season.

The game escalated in the final seconds as Colorado forward Andrew Cogliano hit Kempe in the head with a check. The sequence resulted in 24 total penalty minutes, with the game ending shortly thereafter.

Hear from Kempe, forward Quinton Byfield and Head Coach Todd McLellan following tonight’s game.

Adrian Kempe

Kempe spoke to the media following tonight's game 🔊🧃#GoKingsGo | @LAKings pic.twitter.com/JIrkbQ8s49

— Bally Sports West (@BallySportWest) April 9, 2023

Quinton Byfield
On his takeaways from the 60 minutes tonight
Yeah, it was a good game. I thought all four lines played some solid hockey and I think we deserved a better outcome, but that’s how it goes sometimes.

On what he felt the Kings did better compared to the start in Vegas
Kopi said some words after the Vegas game, we’ve got to have a better start and compete a little bit better as well. You want every puck battle and you want the puck on your stick. I think we started off good this game and as I said, just not the outcome we wanted.

On dropping three straight games after clinching a playoff spot
We’re not happy about it at all. We clinched, which is a good thing, but you definitely want to go into playoffs with some wins. We’ve had a lot of big games that we’ve lost so we’re definitely upset with that.

On the dynamic play of his linemate, Kempe, tonight
His first goal there was really nice, he used his speed, the shot and just placed it low blocker there. The second goal, he used his patience and went upstairs. His shot and speed are a lethal combination.

On Andrew Cogliano’s hit on Kempe in the final stages of the game
Yeah. I think it’s a little bit dirty. I think he’s gone after some of our players before, so there’s not much else I can say about that, but it’s not good.

Todd McLellan
On his takeaways from the 60 minutes tonight
My opinion, I thought a really good effort. A little bit of bad luck, obviously on the first one. Some opportunities to bury pucks early in the game, some really good looks at the goaltender and some guys have been snake bitten for a while and maybe there’s a reason for that, but you’ve got to bear down and finish on those opportunities, get the lead and not play from behind against this team. We never did do that. I thought we were a little bit slow out of the gate in the third period, but even then we found our legs and started to play again. Pretty evenly played game, disappointing that we lost. Offense from Kopi’s line, not enough from other lines and if you’re not scoring, you’ve got to end up at least on the even side of the ledger and we had a couple of lines that didn’t.

On if he believes good play can create momentum going into the playoffs, or if it needs to result in wins to do that
What do we have, two games left, we’re going to have to continue to play hard and fix a few of the things that might be broken and we continue to work at that. Then, when the playoffs start, it’s a brand new year. You’re going to hear everybody say that, anything’s up for grabs and that’s where we’re at. We’ll see if we can get some bodies back, because that would certainly help as well, but we have what we have and that’s what we’re dealing with and we’ve got to get the best out of them.

On if the efforts and performances against Colorado and Edmonton are good enough to win in the playoffs
No, if it’s not good enough to win right now, it won’t be good enough in the postseason. Now, there’s two different things, there’s the effort that goes into the game and the outcome of the game. I think we can do a better job of affecting the outcome of the game. I think the effort is there. The effort in Vegas, maybe not so much, but the last month or the two months we’ve played, I haven’t had many complaints about work ethic or effort. We’re making some mistakes right now that are costing us, some of them are reads and reacts, sometimes we’re getting pushed off a puck or whatever, but that’s not effort based in my opinion.

On Kempe’s offensive mentality in driving a game at this time of the season
We obviously want him on our team, that’s for sure. It’s a mentality, but he also has the skill set and the drive to go with it. You know, there are others that have that mentality, but they’re not gifted that skillset and they have to provide input into the game in different ways. Everybody has something they do well, they’ve got to bring it.

On the chances tonight for Rasmus Kupari and other younger players
Well, you’ve got to be in the right spot to get those chances, so that’s the first step, but you got to finish some of them. We need some of our players to evolve into that. You can’t go 40 games without a goal in the NHL and we’ve had some good, young prospects, some players that we’re counting on to do that and they have to take some of the pressure away from Kempe, Kopitar and some of those other players. Now, Phil Danault has to score a goal too, don’t get me wrong, I’m not just laying it on the hands of some of the younger players, but those guys have had a lot of opportunities and it’s got to go in eventually. That’s what you’re here for.

On his reaction to Andrew Cogliano’s hit on Adrian Kempe
There’s people at the league that look at that stuff, not me.

Notes –
– Adrian Kempe (2-1-3) scored his 37th and 38th goals of the season for his ninth multi-goal outing of the season. The last King skater to tally as many goals (38) or multi-goal efforts (9) in a single season was Ziggy Palffy in 2000-01.
– Anze Kopitar (0-3-3) reached the 70-point mark (27-45-72) for the eighth time in his career. Only Marcel Dionne (12) and Luc Robitaille (11) have recorded more 70-point seasons in Kings history. Kopitar joins teammate Kevin Fiala (23-49-72) as the only other Kings skater to tally 70 points this season, marking the first time since the 2006-07 campaign that two Kings skaters eclipse the 70-point plateau in the single season: Alexander Frolov (35-36-71) and Mike Cammalleri (34-46-80).
– With his three assists, Kopitar recorded his 282nd career multi-point effort, surpassing Dave Taylor for the fourth-most multi-point games in franchise history. Kopitar’s second assist was collected on the man advantage for his 400th career power-play point. Only Luc Robitaille (426) and Marcel Dionne (461) have more power-play points in franchise history than Kopitar.
– Kopitar’s three assists were the 411th, 412th and 413th home assists of his career, surpassing Marcel Dionne (412) for most home assists in Kings history.
– Viktor Arvidsson scored his second career birthday goal (Apr. 8, 2021 at DET), becoming the third Kings skater this season to score on their birthday (Phillip Danault on Feb. 24, 2023 at NYI; Carl Grundstrom on Dec. 1, 2021 vs. ARI). The last time the Kings had three birthday goals in a single season was in 2001-02: Éric Bélanger on Dec. 16, 2001; Bryan Smolinski on Dec. 27, 2001; Jaroslav Modrý on Feb. 27, 2002.
– Quinton Byfield and Vladislav Gavrikov each tallied assists, with Gavrikov picking up points in back-to-back contests.

The Kings will not practice tomorrow, opting for an off day. The team will be back in action on Monday for morning skate, in advance of a 7:30 puck drop versus Vancouver.