The Los Angeles Kings’ long season-opening seven-game road trip is finally over and it ended with a bang, but not in a good way.
With the way the Kings came out to start against the Vegas Golden Knights, no one would have thought that a 6-1 thumping was in store for them. Special teams, losing multiple net-front battles, and the inability to solve Golden Knights goaltender Ilya Samsonov were the three major factors that led to the Kings’ second blowout loss this season.
Special Teams Changed The Complexion of This Game Early
The Kings were the better team at five on five in the first period. They got off to a strong start and controlled the pace of the game until Kings defenseman Joel Edmundson was called for slashing just over eight minutes in. Tomas Hertl opened the scoring for the Golden Knights on that first power play. A few minutes later, forward Andre Lee was sent to the box for holding and the Kings back to the penalty kill. Mark Stone quickly added to the Golden Knights’ lead deflecting an already-deflected shot to make it 2-0.
The great start for the Kings and the momentum they held was quickly drained by the lethal Vegas power play. The two goals the Golden Knights scored on the man advantage completely changed the way this game was looking and they used that newly-gained energy to make it 3-0 with around five minutes left in the first period.
Not being able to stop Vegas from converting on their power-play opportunities is one thing and less concerning considering how good the penalty kill has been to start the season but for the Kings to have double the number of power-play opportunities Vegas did and not convert on any is where the big issue lies. The Kings had four power plays and they looked awful all four times. The power play hasn’t been very good so far this season and tonight it cost them a chance to get back in this game.
Kings Too Many Net-front Battles
There was one player who singlehandedly made the Kings look goofy in front of their own net more than once and that player was Hertl. Three out of the six goals the Golden Knights scored came off of second chances in front of the net. They were out-battled, lost their coverage, and allowed the Golden Knights — especially Hertl — to gain position in front of the net and have easy access to rebounds. It’s tough for a goaltender to be dealing with multiple whacks in front of him after already making that initial save. The Kings couldn’t clear pucks away from David Rittich and left him out to dry multiple times.
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One Vegas power play goal came up due to a lost battle in front but the Kings allowed two even-strength goals for the same reason, which was worse.
“We started the game all right and we broke down a couple times on the penalty kill. I think that really took some momentum away. The puck found a way to land on their stick a few times, we were not strong enough in front of our net,” said Kings head coach Jim Hiller.
A Bad Collapse In The Third Made The Score Worse Than It Should Have Been
The Kings didn’t play a good game by any means but they didn’t play as badly as you would think considering the score. They had many instances throughout the game where they were playing their game in the offensive zone, creating space, and getting pucks to the net all while hemming the Golden Knights in their own end. They outshot the Golden Knights 33-30 and the score would have been a lot closer if it wasn’t for Samsonov.
The first and second periods showed promise and without those power-play goals, the Kings were looking like they were going to score first. The third period is really where the Golden Knights exposed the Kings through the neutral zone and it was way too easy for them to spend time in the offensive zone. After two decent periods where the Kings were only down two goals, they came out flat in the third and the Golden Knights walked all over them. There were times throughout the third period when it was so easy for the Golden Knights to generate offense that it looked like they were toying with the Kings in how they were snapping the puck around and cycling. Coming out strong in the third and getting ready to push only down by two is what the Kings should have done but instead, it was the Golden Knights who came out stronger and it resulted in a lopsided ending.
Coming out of a seven-game road trip 3-2-2 is pretty decent considering how long of a trip it was and how the Kings weren’t at their best for more than two games.
“Well, I think if you look at it, you would say if you can come out of that .500, you’re probably not doing too bad, but it’s always disappointing. We had a chance tonight to really have a great trip,” Hiller said. “There was a lot of positive stuff, there a few things, tonight, we’ve seen that we have to do better. If you don’t do it better, you lose on the road. All-in-all, we’ll accept it and move forward.”
The Kings will be able to finally reset and move forward from this trip as they host the San Jose Sharks on Thursday for their home opener.
