The Los Angeles Kings (11-7-3) defeated the Seattle Kraken (10-10-1) 2-1 in a Pacific Division showdown Saturday afternoon (Nov. 23) from the City of Angels. For Seattle, this was the start of a two-game California road trip after a successful homestand, not to mention an opportunity to level the Kings on points. As for L.A., they looked to rebound from a somewhat surprising shutout defeat at home on Thursday to the Buffalo Sabres.
Scoreless First Period Morphs Into Action-Packed Middle Frame
The opening 20 minutes did not necessarily treat fans at Crypto.com Arena with tons of action. To that point, the visiting Kraken retreated to their locker room after the horn with a narrow 5-4 lead in shots on goal. Both David Rittich and Joey Daccord stood tall when called into action.
The tempo changed in the middle frame. Los Angeles treated the home supporters to a pair of goals barely a few minutes apart. It began at 4:19 when Adrian Kempe received a slick pass from Alex Turcotte in the slot and wristed home a shot past Daccord through some traffic. The Kings doubled their advantage on the power play. At 6:03, Quinton Byfield received a pass at the bottom of the right faceoff circle and ripped a one-timer at an impressively sharp angle to make it 2-0.
Were it not for a superb save by Seattle’s netminder off the shaft of his stick with about 90 seconds left in the period, it would have been 3-0 for the Kings. The latter caught their opponents napping on the power play. This allowed Byfield and Warren Foegele to race out for a 2-on-0 opportunity but, surprisingly, failed to make good on it.
Kings Hold the Fort in the Third Period
With their backs against the wall, the Kraken performed the expected third-period push. One phenomenal sequence at around the nine-minute mark saw Brandon Montour blast not one but two powerful shots from the slot (he got his own rebound). Neither went in. The Kings’ defense got the loose puck and sent it Foegele’s way as he rushed out on a partial breakaway but was stonewalled by Daccord.
Seattle was awarded a final chance to make something of the afternoon with a late power play but failed to do so. Ironically, they would score a consolation goal through Montour at 18:26 with their net empty, but that’s as close as they would get. Rittich repelled 19 of the 20 shots that came his way to help L.A. secure the two hard-fought points.
The Kraken head next to Anaheim to face the Ducks on Monday, Nov. 25, the first of a home-and-home. The Kings travel north to San Jose for a date with the Sharks on the same night.
