Completing a back-to-back set, the LA Kings picked up a point in the standings from a 4-3 shootout defeat against the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday evening at Crypto.com Arena.
The Kings opened the scoring midway through the opening period through forward Alex Laferriere, who buried his second goal of the season to put the hosts ahead. Forward Pierre-Luc Dubois drove the net down the right wing and although his shot was kicked out by the right pad of Vegas netminder Logan Thompson, Laferriere crashed the net for the rebound to bury the game-opening goal. The Golden Knights challenged the play for goaltender interference, but the goal was upheld following a lengthy review.
Early in the second period, the hosts doubled their advantage through forward Trevor Lewis, who scored for the second time in three games for a 2-0 lead. Off an extended shift in the offensive zone, Lewis got to the dirty area just outside of the crease and put home a Mikey Anderson rebound for his second goal of the season. With the primary assist, Anderson recorded his sixth helper of the season, tied for the sixth-most in the NHL amongst defensemen.
The Golden Knights scored consecutive goals in the second period to equalize the game at two heading into the second intermission.
Vegas first got on the board through former Kings forward Michael Amadio to pull to within 2-1. In similar fashion to the first two Kings goals, Amadio got on the end of a rebound, this off the stick of forward William Karlsson, to cut the LA lead in half. Later in the middle stanza, forward William Carrier kept the puck himself on an odd-man rush, shooting off the post and in, for the 2-2 scoreline.
Midway through the third period, Vegas scored the first power-play goal of the evening, as forward Mark Stone broke the deadlock in favor of the visitors. Forward Jonathan Marchessault made the play out of the corner, hitting Stone in the low slot, where he finished high on the glove side for his second goal of the season and a 3-2 advantage.
With just over a minute remaining in regulation, the Kings came back to knot the score at three and force the game into overtime. As the Kings skated 6-on-5, with the goaltender pulled, defenseman Drew Doughty buried his third goal in two games to force overtime. Doughty’s goal was his fourth of the season, tied for the most in the NHL amongst defensemen, with Kevin Fiala collecting his team-leading tenth assist of the season on the play.
The Kings killed off a 4-on-3 Vegas power play in overtime to extend the extra session, but neither team was able to convert in overtime. In the shootout, Thompson turned aside all three shots he faced to secure his team the second point.
Hear from Lewis, forward Phillip Danault and Head Coach Todd McLellan following tonight’s game.
Trevor Lewis
Trevor Lewis reflects on scoring in his 900th career game.
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Phillip Danault
On his takeaways from tonight’s game and getting the one point in the shootout
Could have went either way, I think. We played pretty well and it was a really tight game to be honest. They capitalized on the power play once, I don’t know if Dewy’s was [a power-play goal] but it was a solid goal. We battled pretty hard and we definitely played better than yesterday.
On if he felt the Kings tightened the screws defensively tonight compared to the Arizona games
Yeah, we knew what we were facing, the Stanley Cup champs, so we definitely had to be at our best and on the back to back as well. I would say we played a pretty solid 60 minutes.
On the evolution of his line with Arthur Kaliyev now as the third member
Yeah, I mean, it’s obviously different, but I think Arty is working hard and he’s more involved in battles, keeping the puck a little bit more, but we’re still adjusting. I think he’s been doing a good job getting some pucks for us and he’s got a heavy shot as we know. He’s playing well.
On the power play right now and where he feels it’s falling short
It’s a matter of time, it’s going to work at some point, but it can always be on point. I think we definitely can improve on the power play for sure, with all the skills and the talent we have here, we can definitely chip in a little bit more.
Todd McLellan
On his takeaways from a hard-fought game against Vegas
I thought it was a hell of a game. In my opinion, it was pretty evenly played, back and forth. A few mistakes, fourth lines scored, they got a power-play goal, we got a 6-on-5, our penalty kill was really good in overtime there’s was good in the third when it needed to be, a heavy, hard game, some good goaltending. They are the measuring stick, obviously, they’ve earned that right and we were able to play a pretty good game right there with them. When you compare that to maybe what we did against Colorado, Carolina, Boston, some of the other, if you want to call them upper-echelon teams, or supposedly based on their past, I thought we played this one better than those others. Everything was even, we both played yesterday, I thought both teams got a little sluggish at times and made some mistakes, but it was a good night for for both clubs.
On the team’s commitment to a stronger defensive performance tonight
We did, we needed to be. There’s still going to be mistakes, there’s going to be pucks that bounce off feet and end up in the wrong spots, but that’s when your goaltender comes up and Talbs did a real good job for us in cleaning up some of our messes. Much more detailed, much more committed, better game management skills throughout the group.
On his assessment of the power play tonight
It was really good last night, so you have good nights and bad nights. That’s the Stanley Cup champs, they’re a pretty good penalty-kill team. I think we put eight god shots on goal on the power play. If you want to just zero in on the four-minuter, it didn’t go as well as we wanted to but we had our opportunities. At the end of the night, the special teams won’t show that it was equal, but the 6-on-5 goal, in my mind, is an advantage that we took took advantage of. Where we lost the special teams battle was in the shootout tonight.
On if he feels there is a concern in collecting 2 of 8 points against last season’s division champions
No, there’s not a concern. There was a concern early in the year with the way things were happening against those teams, two shorthanded goals against Carolina, that was something that we didn’t want to give up, maybe it’s a different game that night, but we’re still trying to iron out some wrinkles with our group and in certain areas. We kind of fix one area and then we’ve got to go attack another, but there’s a lot of teams in the league that are doing that. I think we have the right group and we have the right focus, when we are focused, so there’s not a big concern. We’ve played some quality clubs and left some points on the table but think we’re going in the right direction.
On if he’s sensing any frustration right now from Adrian Kempe
I would imagine, inside that body, there is. He does a pretty good job of not showing it but I would think there is. He’s had some real good shooting opportunities, hust hasn’t got them off clean, and that’s actually a tip of the hat from the other teams to him. Once you start putting 40 or more up, your number is circled on the board, they check the crap out of you if you will and you got to find ways to get it done. He had some chances tonight, he took the puck to the net in overtime. It’ll eventually go but I’m sure there is a little bit of frustration.
On Cam Talbot’s play over the last 48 hours
That’s nothing that I haven’t seen in the past, a stabilizing, steady goaltender. I think he has a real good sense of game management as well, when to get whistles, when to slow things down. He reads the play well and can anticipate what might be coming next, the save in overtime, the one shot they had, sometimes you’ve got to read that and come across at the right time to make the save and I think that was as much hockey intelligence as it is athleticism and goaltending.
Notes –
– Trevor Lewis (1-0=1) scored his second goal of the season in his 900th career NHL game. In doing so, Lewis became the sixth Kings player to score in their 900th career game and the first to do so since Jeff Carter’s hat trick on March 29th, 2018, vs. ARI. Lewis currently sits tenth all-time in Kings franchise history for games played (682).
– Alex Laferriere (1-0=1) scored his second career goal on his 22nd birthday, becoming just the third rookie in franchise history to score on their birthday, joining Gary Shuchuk (Feb. 17, 1993; 26 y/o) and Bob Berry (Nov. 29, 1970; 27 y/o). Laferriere is the 26th different skater in team history to record a goal on their birthday. Last year, the Kings had three birthday goals: Carl Grundstrom (Dec. 1, 2022; 25 y/o), Phillip Danault (Feb. 24, 2023; 30 y/o) and Viktor Arvidsson (Apr. 8, 2023; 30 y/o).
– Drew Doughty (1-0=1) notched his third goal in his last two games and fourth of the 2023-24 campaign. Doughty’s four goals is tied for most among all defenseman in the league with Ottawa’s Jakob Chychrun.
– Kevin Fiala (0-1=1) extended his point and assist streak to seven games (1-10=11).
– Mikey Anderson (0-1=1) notched his seventh point of the season, marking the first time in Anderson’s career that he has tallied seven points (1-6=7) in an eight-game span.
– Pierre-Luc Dubois (0-1=1), Matt Roy (0-1=1), Blake Lizotte (0-1=1) and Adrian Kempe (0-1=1) all recorded assists.
– Anze Kopitar played in his 1,300th game tonight, making him the first skater in Kings history to reach such mark and the fourth active skater to hit the 1,300-game mark: Ryan Suter (1,368), Alex Ovechkin (1,354) and Brent Burns (1,342).
– The Kings scored three goals tonight bringing their season total to 35. It is the eighth time in franchise history the team has scored at least 35 goals within the first eight games to start a season, and the first team to do so since the 1993-94 team (42G; Oct. 6 – Oct. 20, 1993).
The Kings are scheduled to travel to Toronto tomorrow and will not practice. The team is scheduled to return to practice on Monday afternoon in Ontario at 12:30 PM local time, 9:30 AM Pacific time.
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