Preseason Game Thread – Kings vs. Boston, 10/3

Los Angeles Kings 4, Boston Bruins 1
4:53 Left, Third Period
Game Preview
VIDEO: LAKings.com
AUDIO: ESPN LA App
SOG: LAK – 25 BOS – 10
PP: LAK – 0/2 BOS – 0/2

Third Period
20:00 – Final period of regulation has begun, Kings with a one-goal lead in Quebec City.
15:27 – Kings will head to their first penalty kill of the night, as Edmundson sits.
15:09 – LAK Goal – Kempe, shortie. Same goal they scored in Ontario but in reverse. Kopitar down the left wing, feeds Kempe through the slot and he hammers it home for the goal. 3-1 Kings.
12:00 – LAK Goal – Byfield makes it a hat trick. Drives the net and gets his stick on a pass from Trevor Moore out of the corner. Heck of a night in QueBec for Byfield. 4-1 Kings midway through the third period.
9:45 – Great defensive stick from Gavrikov on the backcheck. Pastrnak got into a dangerous position but Gavrikov uses that octopus-style reach to poke the puck into the corner, before calmly feeding Byfield for a clean breakout. A lot of times, not noticing Gavrikov is a good night but he made himself noticeable in a good way right there.
7:30 – Kings back to the kill, Thomas to the box, so we’ll get another look at the PK unit.
5:30 – Think the Kings had three separate 2-on-1 rushes on that kill there. Didn’t score, but they were looking for it. Still 4-1, inside 6 minutes to play in the third period.

Second Period
20:00 – Middle stanza is a go, as the teams search for the game’s first goal.
18:18 – Poke Czech! Rittich gets a stick out to knock the puck off the stick of fellow countryman David Pastrnak. Nice play from Rittich.
18:09 – Kings get a power play early in the second period, as Lindholm sits for the Bruins. First opportunity of the night here for LA on the man advantage.
15:26 – First power play does not yield anything but the Kings are right back to it 30 seconds or so later. Zacha sits for the Bruins, Kings will get another chance here on the man advantage.
13:15 – two power plays without a shot on goal. Boston gets a 3-on-1 at the end of the sequence but Brandt Clarke breaks it up. Not ideal when the best play from four minutes of PP time is a defensive break up. Work in progress for sure.
9:05 – More than 30 minutes into the game and the Bruins have a total of three shots on goal.
7:58 – LAK Goal – There’s some energy! 2-on-1 rush, Fiala leading down the left wing, threads a pass through the slot to Quinton Byfield, who hammers the shot into the back of the net. 1-0 Kings.
7:32 – LAK Goal – QuinTWOn. Byfield gets his second of the period and second of the minute. This time, he wins a battle in front, gets to a rebound and whacks it past Korpisalo. 2-0 Kings.
7:25 – BOS Goal – Good breakout from the Bruins, with Patrick Brown hit in stride through the neutral zone to eventually gain the offensive blueline. Brown split the defensemen and beat Rittich clean with a wrister. 3 total goals in less than 60 seconds. 2-1
3:13 – Byfield and Fiala almost create more magic, though in the inverse. Fiala dangles at the blueline and the puck worked its way to Byfield, who one-timed it to Fiala on the left-hand circle, but Korpisalo made an athletic save. Great puck movement.
0:00 – 2-1 Kings after 40 minutes. Slow 30 minutes, exciting 30 seconds.

First Period
20:00 – Kings and Bruins are underway in Quebec City!
16:05 – Tricky shot from the point from Joel Edmundson, through a crowd. Shot gets through a mess of traffic on net, with Korpisalo making the save. Rebound goes through the slot and out of harms way. Kings seem to be skating well in the early goings.
11:00 – Kings have generally been the better team thus far, though to be fair there hasn’t been a ton of chances either way. Outside of a small scrum in front of Rittich, play has largely been at the other end of the ice.
8:11 – Quinton Byfield’s stride is ridiculous. One powerful stride and he’s past two forecheckers and halfway through the neutral zone. So much power when he skates.
4:42 – We will play 4-on-4. Kind of a crazy sequence. Viel laid a hit on Turcotte coming out of the corner, Andre Lee took offense and absolutely leveled Viel in open ice, with Kyle Burroughs getting in there as well. Scrum breaks loose by the blueline, Viel and Lee each head to the box.
2:59 – And, immediately out of the penalty boxes, Lee and Viel drop the gloves. Viel gets the takedown, but Lee is doing what he can to make the big club. If there’s a spot to be won, he’s certainly trying to make a push for it.
1:13 – Adrian Kempe, smooth puckmover. Good stuff from Kempe to find Kopitar through the slot with a threaded pass. Kopitar’s shot is kicked into a dangerous area but the Bruins get a cover before two converging Kings can bury it.
0:00 – No goals to report through 20. Thought LAK upped their level in the final five or so of that period after a slow start overall.

Tonight’s Kings Lineup
Laferriere – Kopitar – Kempe
Jeannot – Danault – Moore
Fiala – Byfield – Foegele
Lee – Turcotte – Thomas

Anderson – Spence
Gavrikov – Burroughs
Edmundson – Clarke

Rittich
Kuemper