FINAL – Kings 3, Red Wings 5 – Kopitar, Byfield, McLellan

The LA Kings dropped their eighth consecutive game, as they fell by a 5-3 final score against the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday evening at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.

The hosts struck first this evening, as they opened the scoring less than three minutes into the game. From a sharp angle, forward Dylan Larkin shot top shelf on Kings netminder Cam Talbot, slipping in over Talbot’s shoulder. Larkin’s goal was his 15th of the season, with forward David Perron collecting the lone assist on the play.

Later in the opening period, the Kings answered with a power-play goal from forward Quinton Byfield, knotting the score at one through 20 minutes. Forward Kevin Fiala made a move from the left side, as he beat his defensemen and fed Anze Kopitar down low. Kopitar one-touched the puck to Byfield in front, where the Ontario native buried it first time for his 11th goal of the season.

With Detroit skating 5-on-3, the hosts took the lead back via Larkin’s second goal of the evening. Using the two-man advantage, Patrick Kane fired the puck into a dangerous area, from the right-hand corner, and the puck deflected out into the path of Larkin, who put home the rebound for his second goal of the game and his 16th of the season.

In a span of just 64 seconds, Detroit took its lead from one goal to three, with goals from forwards Robby Fabbri and Patrick Kane. First, the Red Wings attacked off the rush, with Fabbri driving the net down the right wing and burying a rebound for his 12th goal of the season. Kane followed up just over a minute later with a breakaway goal, as he deked back to the forehand for his seventh goal of the season and a 4-1 advantage.

After the Kings saw a goal disallowed for goaltender interference at one end, the Red Wings added a fifth before the end of the second period, via forward Christian Fischer. Defenseman Jeff Petry, stationed at the right point, sent a shot through the slot that Fischer got a deflection on from just in front of Talbot, redirecting it home for his third goal of the season.

The Kings made a goaltending change at the intermission, with goaltender David Rittich entering the game in relief of Cam Talbot.

Early in the third period, the Kings scored two more power-play goals, as they pulled back to within 5-3 before the six-minute mark of the frame.

First, forward Pierre-Luc Dubois cashed in from close range, as he quickly fired off an assist from Alex Laferriere, bringing the visitors to within 5-2. The trio of Fiala, Kopitar and Byfield connected again on the team’s third power-play goal of the evening, with Fiala feeding Kopitar through the seam, the captain firing off the post and Byfield putting home the rebound from inside the crease, his second goal of the night, as the visitors moved within 5-3.

Hear from Kopitar, Byfield and Head Coach Todd McLellan following tonight’s game.

Quinton Byfield

Anze Kopitar
On what went wrong for the Kings in the second period that opened up the deficit
I mean, we just didn’t stick to the plan and they’re a skiled, explosive team that can make you pay on that occasion. We got off page for a few and it cost us.

On frustration seaping into the team’s game in that stretch
Yeah, obviously everybody cares in here, so it’s hard to be in this situation, but then again, it’s going to be everybody that’s going to pull us out of the situation. We saw the third period as a good indicator of what we have to do, play as a team and how we have to play, with how high of a intensity. That’s the only way we’re going to get out of this.

On getting three power-play goals, including two from his unit
That’s one, probably the only positive tonight, getting power-play goals. The third period was pretty good and obviously we’ve got to do more of that throughout the 60-minute game.

On the message to the group from him and team leaders during this stretch of games
Stick to the plan and bring your intensity, bring your energy on Monday. We’ll obviously try and put a 60-minute effort and win a game.

Todd McLellan
On how he saw the game get away from the team during the second period
We’re in a 2-1 game, had a breakaway shorthanded, didn’t score and then after that, we made mistakes that we talked about before the game that were defendable, correctable. The third one, the outnumbered rush where we stepped in on a puck and they scored and then the fourth one I thought was an unlucky one. Royzie went to chip the puck and he chipped it right into Patrick Kane for a breakaway. Then the real disappointing one is right at the end of the period, where we have an opportunity to gain a line and we don’t, so that’s what happened in a three-minute span. You throw a bad goal into the mix and an unlucky 5-on-3 and all of a sudden, you’ve given up five goals and we’re not scoring five. So, it’s pretty simple. The tenacity, I thought woe is us was our theme song after the second, but the tenacity in the third showed up and that was a positive sign, if we’re going to take anything out of it.

On if he saw frustration seep into the team’s game for the first time during that stretch
Of course, but the frustration part of it shouldn’t affect the outcome of the game. We’re allowed to be frustrated, it’s a tough battle, it’s hard. The other team gets in the way sometimes and you’re going to be frustrated. It’s not always going to be your way, but to make some of the mistakes were making, I don’t know if that’s frustration or just plain old not very sharp. It’s affecting us and then it affects everybody else in the group. So, still stuff to clean up.

On what was learned of the group in the third period, with the score 5-1
I didn’t learn anything, quite frankly, because I knew that’s in us. I don’t think we have a rollover factor one bit, so I can’t stand here and tell you I learned something. Had we done the other thing, and not competed and not played hard, then I would have learned something, so that’s a pretty simple answer.

On getting three power-play goals tonight
I thought our special teams were good. Yeah, we gave up a goal, 5-on-3, tough one, but I thought our special teams were good. 5-on-5 offense went away a little bit in the second period, but I thought we had our share of chances. It’s still the defending part, which should be our bread and butter, got away on us.

On the message to the group coming out of this game
We can’t make crap up, we’ve got to tell them where we are and we have to be honest with them. We’ve tried to accentuate a lot of the positives, because there are a fair number in the game, but when it’s all said and done, I think that each individual has to do some inventory-checking and making sure they’re bringing what they can. Not to do everything for the team, but just to clean their own game up a little bit and that’s what will get us out of it.

Notes –
– Quinton Byfield (2-0=1) scored his 11th and 12th goals of the season for his team-leading fourth multi-goal game of the campaign and fifth of his career. In doing so, Byfield tied Alex Frolov, Doug Smith and Larry Murphy for the seventh-most by a Kings player before 22 years of age.
– Byfield’s goals marked his third and fourth power-play goals (PPG) of the campaign, the second-most on the team. His 10 power-play points (4-6=10) are tied for the most this season by a skater selected in the 2020 NHL Draft, behind only Cole Perfetti (5-5=10) and Seth Jarvis (8-2=10).
– With tonight’s performance, Byfield recorded his first career 30-point season (12-18=30) in his 39th game of the campaign to become the 13th different Kings skater 21 years of age or younger to tally 30 points within the teams’ first 39 games to start a season, and the first to do so since Anze Kopitar (10-20=30) in 2008-09.
– Pierre-Luc Dubois (1-0=1) registered his eighth goal of the season.
– Anze Kopitar (0-2=2) collected his 24th and 25th assists of the season for his 132nd and 133rd career road power-play assists, surpassing Marcel Dionne (132) for the most in Kings history.
– With the assists, Kopitar hit the 25-assist mark in a season for the 18th time in his career, the most such seasons in Kings history and tied for the most among active skaters with Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby. Kopitar has now accumulated 1,180 career NHL points (407-773=1,180), surpassing Sergei Fedorov (483-696=1,179) for the 54th most points in NHL history.
– Kevin Fiala (0-2=2) picked up a pair of assists.
– Alex Laferriere (0-1=1) tallied his sixth assist of the season for his first career power-play point.
– Phillip Danault (0-1=1) notched his 16th helper of the season in his 200th game as a member of the Kings as he became the 13th Quebec-born skater to skate in 200 games for the club.

The Kings are scheduled to return to the ice for practice tomorrow at 2 PM at PNC Arena in Carolina.

Proudly presented by Destination Vancouver.
The Real Pacific Northwest. Go Norther.