FINAL – Kings 3, Sharks 4 (SO) – Kempe, Clarke, McLellan

The LA Kings fell to 1-1-1 on their current homestand, following a 4-3 shootout loss against the San Jose Sharks on Monday evening at Crypto.com Arena.

After neither team found the back of the net in the first period, despite 18 shots on goal by the Kings, San Jose opened the scoring with two goals just 80 seconds apart early in the second.

First, forward Fabian Zetterlund got the visitors on the board, as the Sharks capitalized with a delayed penalty called against the Kings. Skating 6-on-5, defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov blocked a shot from the point, but the puck fell directly to Zetterlund, who snapped his shot past Kings goaltender David Rittich for his 14th goal of the season. Less than two minutes later, forward William Eklund doubled his team’s advantage, as he snapped a shot past Rittich off the rush for a 2-0 lead.

With fewer than three minutes remaining in the second period, the Kings got on the board through forward Trevor Moore, who buried his team-leading 21st goal of the season to cut his team’s deficit to a single goal through 40 minutes. Taking a pass from forward Kevin Fiala off the boards, Moore danced his way into the offensive zone and snapped a shot past San Jose netminder Kaapo Kahkonen on the blocker side for the goal and a 2-1 scoreline .

After an adjustment up front that saw Quinton Byfield re-join Anze Kopitar and Adrian Kempe on the team’s top forward line, the trio paid instant dividends with the game-tying goal. Off an extended shift in the offensive zone, Kempe spun and fed an uncovered Byfield in front, where he slammed home his 14th goal of the season to knot the score at two.

San Jose pulled back ahead via forward Justin Bailey, who converted on a breakaway to put the visitors on top 3-2. After taking a stretch pass from forward Ryan Carpenter, Bailey got in between the Kings defensemen, went the length of the ice and slid his shot through the five hole for his third goal of the season and a one-goal lead.

With just inside two minutes on the clock, and the Kings skating on a 6-on-4 advantage with the net empty, defenseman Drew Doughty fired home his 11th goal of the season to knot the score at three and force overtime. Doughty aligned at the center point and wired home a pass from Kevin Fiala for his third power-play goal in his last four games.

As the game progressed through five minutes of overtime and eventually into a shootout, San Jose forwards Logan Couture and Zetterlund scored, while Moore and Kempe were denied by Kahkonen, giving the Sharks the second point.

Hear from Kempe, defenseman Brandt Clarke and Head Coach Todd McLellan following tonight’s game.

Brandt Clarke

Adrian Kempe
On if tonight feels like a point earned or a point dropped
Right now, it feels like a point dropped. Obviously, a good comeback, tied it up late in the game, so that was good, but overall, I think with the chances we had, I think we played pretty well. For sure it’s frustrating that we can’t be as efficient as we want and score on the chances we get. Frustrated right now.

On what is lacking right now for the Kings to pull out of this stretch
Goalscoring, obviously. I think we’re playing good enough. Defensively, I think a couple mistakes every game, but you know that’s going to happen. We’ve been pretty happy with the way that the PK and PP are going and I think it’s just the 5-on-5 that we’ve just got to take care of right now. If you don’t score much, it’s easy to get frustrated, so, that’s something we’ve got to try to take care of and not try to look for offense too much.

On the team’s mindset coming out for the third period, eventually tying the game
We just talked about staying patient. We had our chances, had good shots, I think we had some before coming into the third, in a second there, I think we had some really good shifts, the puck just didn’t go in. That’s the talk we had in the locker room, just stay patient, keep working down low and getting shots to the net. We tied it up, but obviously couldn’t get the two points, but still a good effort in the third, I think.

On any concern that the season is slipping away on the Kings after the strong start
No, I don’t think so. Like I said, I think there’s still some things we’ve got to do better, 5-on-5. I think special teams have been really good, we get good goaltending every game. Obviously it’s been a tough stretch here and obviously with the amount of OT losses that could have went the right way, then it would have been a pretty solid month. It’s just frustrating that we feel like we play pretty well, almost every game, and just come keep coming away with just one point.

Todd McLellan
On his assessments of tonight’s game
I thought it started very loose, a track meet going both ways and then about the 10-minute mark of the first, I thought we took over, started to solidify the game and then a couple of mistakes and all of a sudden we’re down 2-0. From there, we had good, sustained attack time, didn’t get much of a reward and then made another mistake and it’s in our net. We should be able to win a game scoring three right now and we weren’t able to do it tonight. The last two goals against were very preventable, off a faceoff, turnover and a lot of width and then the other one was a pinch and a not so good cover.

On the decision to move Byfield and Dubois during the third period
I thought that our first or top line, whatever you want to call it with, I didn’t think they had a lot going. I thought they needed a little more energy and naturally Q’s been there before and he’s done that for that line. That’s why that change was made.

On if he has a sense the season could be slipping away on the group after this stretch
No, I wouldn’t say the season’s slipping away but I would say that there is concern and that there is frustration, definitely frustration. Again, I’ll reiterate, three should be plenty for us right now. It’s not often we get three or four, the way we’re scoring, and the defensive-side mistakes allowed us to have to score with the goaltender pulled and we shouldn’t have to do that. So, right now we’re chasing it both ways. We try and fix the offense and there’s something going wrong with the defense and vice versa. I don’t sense, to your initial question, I don’t sense that at all.

On the team’s performance in the shootout
Well, let’s face it, when there’s 18,000 people in here and you’re on TV and the points [matter]……you guys can come to TSPC and four of you can sit upstairs and we don’t even see you, we can pick our shooters and the goaltenders are tired, we do whatever we can, but those are moments, those are individual skill moments and we’ve had players that have had a lot of success, both goaltenders and shooters, in the past. It’s not going our way, we haven’t had a save in I don’t know, eight shots in a row maybe. The goaltenders are trying, they’re doing everything they can, but the shooters have to bail them out. So, again, it’s both ends there.

On Brandt Clarke’s play tonight, stepping in for Matt Roy
He’s a really good type of player when we are down. He’s creating, he’s jumping in, he’s making plays, he’s heady, he’s very deceptive. All of those skills lend towards offense and being down one and in overtime, you’re taking some chances and he’s very good at that, obviously that’s his game. I didn’t think he hurt us a lot offensively, a little wide on the on the turnover goal, but I don’t think there’s a lot that he could do there to change things.

On what he’s seeing from Dubois right now
Well, we took him from center, put him on wing, he ended up back in the middle. So for, as much as his play is his play, we may be confusing him sending all over the place but at the end of the day, if PL gets four minutes or PL gets 24 minutes, he has to be a difference maker and with or without the puck, we’ve gone through this long enough, it’s time.

Notes –
– Trevor Moore (1-0=1) scored his 21st goal of the season. With the goal, Moore became the sixth Kings skater in the last 20 years to score at least 21 goals within the team’s first 44 games to start a season, and the first to do so since Jeff Carter (44GP, 23-17=40) in 2016-17.
– It was Moore’s fourth career goal and eighth career point against San Jose (4-4=8), the third-most goals scored by a California-born skater against the Sharks in league history and tied with Matt Nieto (2-6=8) for the third-most points scored by a California-born skater against the Sharks in league history.
– Quinton Byfield (1-1=2) scored his 14th goal of the season and picked up an assist for his eighth multi-point game of the campaign. In doing so, Byfield tied Anze Kopitar for third on the team in goals. Byfield has registered goals in back-to back games for the first time this season and first time in his career. Byfield also becomes the third Kings player 21 years old or younger to reach the 14-goal mark in the same season, joining Arthur Kaliyev in the 2021-22 season, and two behind Adrian Kempe’s 16 from the 2017-2018 season.
– Drew Doughty (1-0=1) scored his 11th goal of the season for his fifth power-play goal (PPG) of the campaign. This is Doughty’s ninth season scoring at least five PPGs, the second-most such seasons amongst Kings defensemen in franchise history, behind only Rob Blake (10).
– With the goal, Doughty moves into sole possession of third place all-time among NHL defensemen with his seventh tying or go-ahead goal within the final 2:00 of regulation, trailing only Ray Bourque (12) and Larry Murphy (8).
– Kevin Fiala (0-2=2) picked up his 29th and 30th assists of the season for his 11th multi-point effort, tying Adrian Kempe for the most on the team this season. Fiala has now tallied a point in three straight games against the Sharks (1-4=5) and has recorded 15 points (4-11=15) over his last 10 games vs. San Jose, dating back to April 24, 2021. With the assists, Fiala becomes the first Kings skater this season to reach 30 assists and 40 points (11-30=41). It is the second time in Fiala’s career that he has recorded at least 40 points within the team’s first 44 games or fewer, having done so last season (44GP, 15-31=46).
– Jordan Spence (0-1=1) picked up his 14th assist of the season. Spence has now recorded an assist in three straight games against San Jose (0-3=3), dating back to Dec. 19, 2023.
– Adrian Kempe (0-1=1) collected his 25th assist of the season, tying Anze Kopitar for second on the team in assists. The assist marked Kempe’s 40th point (15-25=40) tying him with Kevin Fiala for the team lead in total scoring. Kempe has now recorded four points (3-1=4) over his last four games against the Sharks, dating back to Jan. 11, 2023.

The Kings are scheduled to practice tomorrow at 11 AM at Toyota Sports Performance Center.

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