FINAL – Kings 2, Maple Leafs 6 – Danault, Lewis, Hiller

The LA Kings lost in regulation for the first time in the 2024-25 season, in a 6-2 defeat against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday evening at Scotiabank Arena.

The Maple Leafs opened the scoring just shy of seven minutes into the game, with forward Bobby McMann getting on the board for the hosts. Defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov blocked a centering pass just outside of the crease but the puck deflected past the backcheckers right into the path of McMann, who slotted the puck into the net for a 1-0 advantage.

Toronto made it 2-0 just shy of two minutes later, as Auston Matthews scored his first goal of the season. Matthews received a pass in the slot and after he initially fanned on a shot, he regained possession with a different angle and snapped his shot underneath the crossbar, past Kings netminder David Rittich and in for a two-goal advantage midway through the opening period.

Late in the opening period, the Kings fell behind 3-0 as the Maple Leafs converted in transition. Gavrikov mistimed a pinch from the right point, which led to a 2-on-1 that eventually became a breakaway for McMann. He kept the puck himself and shot low on the blocker side for his second goal of the game and a 3-0 lead at the first intermission.

The Kings collected the first 11 shots on goal of the second period but they were unable to convert. Toronto extended its lead to four goals shortly thereafter, as Morgan Reilly lost his man through the slot, won the race to the front of the net and got a deflection on a Max Domi shot, sending it past Rittich and in for his first goal of the season and a 4-0 advantage.

Midway through the second period, the Kings made a goaltending change, as Pheonix Copley made his season debut. Rittich’s evening ended with 10 saves on 14 shots through just over 32 minutes of work.

Skating on a power play late in the second period, forward William Nylander made it 5-0 Toronto, heading into the intermission. Nylander collected the puck above the right hand circle and his shot deflected off a Kings stick and into the top corner, past Copley on the blocker side, as the hosts extended their lead to five goals through 40 minutes of play.

Early in the third period, the Kings scored twice to pull their way back to within three.

First, forward Alex Turcotte was rewarded for a strong night, as he first kept the play alive at the offensive blueline and the worked his way into the slot, where he collected a pass from Andre Lee and shot past Toronto netminder Anthony Stolarz to get the visitors on the board. The Kings scored again before the halfway point of the third, as defenseman Brandt Clarke activated from the point to get the puck into a dangerous area and forward Kevin Fiala willed it over the line for his third goal in two games.

Toronto forward John Tavares completed the scoring on the evening with a power-play goal late in the third period, bringing the game to its final score of 6-2.

Hear from forwards Phillip Danault and Trevor Lewis, along with Head Coach Jim Hiller, following tonight’s defeat.

Phillip Danault

Trevor Lewis
On what is missing with the team right now
The start we got off to tonight was a little disappointing. I think you see it in the second period, when we played North/South hockey and had that compete level, we’re tough to play against. We’ve just got to make sure we come out and start like that. This East/West kind of stuff is not working for us, so we know what we have to do to be successful. We’ve just got to buy in and do it.

On the slow starts he talked about and how to correct it as a group
I think it’s just everyone’s got to get themselves going, however that is. I think as a team, we’ve just got to come out with that singular focus of starting games, keeping it simple and getting on the forecheck, getting pucks back. I know it’s pretty cliche to say but it works, and for us to be effective, we need to do it.

On the team conceding 14 goals over the last two games
Yeah, I think just careless turnovers sometimes and then you get caught in your zone, you get a penalty and we’re taking way too many penalties and making it way too hard on our goalies.

On the team adjusting to new personnel and systems
It’s definitely a new group and we’ve got some new systems and stuff, but I think, you know, most guys know how to play here. When we get too cute, I mean, it’s simple to say, but that North/South and get it in, go get it back, we get some chances, we get we get hounding, and they get tired. You saw it a little bit in the second period there, so it’s good to build off that. The good thing is, we get a chance to go back and play tomorrow night.

Jim Hiller
On his concern level after another high goals against total
We broke down and they scored. I don’t think they had that many chances but they had good chances, breakdowns by us for sure. It’s a concern anytime you don’t win the game and you break down early like we did. But, here we are. We’ve got a game tomorrow, so we’ll put this one behind us again, that’s the only thing they can do, and we go into Montreal tomorrow. Win that game, we’ll have a good trip.

On the notion of playing too much “East/West” hockey
I sure thought so. I thought after the first period, now they didn’t have to score a bunch after the first, they had a pretty good lead, but if you noticed, we played a little bit more direct and I think made a difference for us. We played a lot of time in the o-zone, so that’s a part of it. It’s, unfortunately, at times, players, all of us, the beauty of the game is to make good plays and stuff but they’re just not there very often anymore. So, you have to just accept the fact that you got to go North and do your work, that’s where the game is today.

On individual breakdowns halting momentum and leading to goals against
That was it, we broke down and when we did, we broke down big and they finished most of them. They have high end scorers, they were able to do that. I thought their goalie made some saves, I thought, I have to give them some credit, they made some saves. We could have crawled back, we didn’t, that’s the story tonight.

On the decision to make a goaltending change and if it was based on performance
No, I wouldn’t say that. Dave hadn’t played yet, we’ve got another game tomorrow, so we have to make a decision on that, but it wasn’t performance, no. It was maybe just to manage his time with the back-to-back.

On Alex Turcotte’s performance and if he is doing things to earn more ice time
Yeah, I think he played over 14 tonight, I don’t know how much more than that, but I thought him and Leezie together were our two best forwards. They played really well. They didn’t get a lot of ice time in Ottawa, based on all the special teams, but they’ve had a really good trip. They’ve impressed. Jeanno went with them there in the second half of the game and that line was good, spent their time in the o-zone and not much time in the d-zone.

Notes
• Forward Alex Turcotte (1-0=1) notched his first goal of the season and has now recorded points in back-to-back games (1A, Oct. 14 at OTT) for the first time in his career.
• With an assist on Turcotte’s opening goal, Andre Lee (0-1=1) registered the first assist and first point of his NHL career. Lee becomes the sixth different skater selected in the 2019 NHL Draft (188th overall) to record a point for the LA Kings.
• Forward Kevin Fiala (1-0=1) scored his third goal of the season, his first of the campaign to come at even-strength. With his multi-goal day in Ottawa two days prior, Fiala has now established a goal streak of at least two games for the 34th time in his career, the 10th such streak in his tenure as a King.
• Defenseman Brandt Clarke (0-1=1) recorded his team-leading fourth assist of the season. With his three assist performance on Monday in Ottawa, Clarke has now established an assist streak for the second time in his career (Last: Feb. 15 – Feb 17, 2024, 2GP 1-2=3).
• Forward Trevor Lewis (0-1=1) tallied his first assist of the season for his second point of the campaign. With the assist, Lewis has now collected points in two or more straight games (1G, Oct. 14 at OTT) for the 32nd time in a Kings’ sweater.
• Defensemen Andreas Englund and Caleb Jones skated in their first game of the campaign, with Jones making his regular season debut in a Kings’ uniform. In doing so, Jones becomes the fourth defenseman and fifth skater selected in the 2015 NHL Draft (117th overall, Edmonton) to play a game for the Kings, joining Matt Roy, Austin Wagner, Christian Wolanin, and current teammate Vladislav Gavrikov.
• Goaltenders David Rittich and Pheonix Copley each made their regular season debuts tonight in Toronto. Copley, who came into the game in the second period, returned to regular season NHL action for the first time in 10 months.

The Kings will return to the ice tomorrow evening in Montreal, as they visit the Canadiens in a 4 PM puck drop, Pacific time. Considering the back-to-back, the Kings will not hold a morning skate in advance of tomorrow’s game.