The LA Kings saw a late lead slip away as they dropped a 5-3 final against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday evening at Crypto.com Arena.
Just over three minutes into the game, Tampa Bay opened the scoring with a tic-tac-toe power-play goal. Forward Nikita Kucherov made the first pass to forward Jake Guentzel, who quickly moved it to forward Brayden Point at the back post, where he buried his eighth goal of the season to give the visitors an early 1-0 advantage.
The Kings answered right back, just over 60 seconds later, as forward Jeff Malott found the back of the net in his return to the Los Angeles lineup. As Tampa Bay tried to break the puck out of its end, forward Corey Perry forced a turnover along the boards, deflecting the puck to Malott in the right-hand circle. Malott curled onto his forehand and fired past Lightning goaltender Jonas Johansson and in, glove side high, for this third goal of the season and a 1-1 deadlock.
Los Angeles then scored a power-play goal of its own, the third straight game with a goal on the man advantage, to take a one-goal lead just over six minutes into the game. After a well-executed sequence, with several shot attempts and puck retrievals, a Kevin Fiala rebound was knocked loose by Perry, directly to forward Andrei Kuzmenko, who snuck his shot inside the near post and in for his eighth goal of the season and a 2-1 lead through 20 minutes.
Late in the second period, the Lightning tied the game at two on Point’s second goal of the game. Tampa Bay took advantage of an fortunate bounce below the goal line in the offensive zone, as a pass deflected the other way to Point, who quickly pulled the puck to the front of the net and scored on the backhand for his second goal of the afternoon, tying the game at two goals apiece through 40 minutes of play.
Inside the first two minutes of the third period, the Kings scored another power-play goal, restoring a one-goal advantage in the process. Attacking off in transition, after Kuzmenko knocked down a clearing attempt in the neutral zone, Perry used deception to thread a pass through the slot to forward Kevin Fiala, who collected and buried his 14th goal of the season at the back post to put the hosts ahead 3-2. Perry’s assist was his third of the game, giving him his first three-assist game since November of 2019.
Tampa Bay scored three goals inside the final four minutes of regulation to flip the script and turn a 3-2 Kings lead into a 5-3 Lightning victory.
First, forward Anthony Cirelli tied the game around the net, as he buried a rebound goal on he backhand to equalize at three goals apiece. Forward Gage Concalves put the visitors ahead for the first time since early in the first period with his fourth goal of the season, again coming from just outside the crease, before Kucherov iced the game with the empty-net goal to bring us to the final score of 5-3.
Hear from Perry, defenseman Cody Ceci and Head Coach Jim Hiller after tonight’s game.
