The LA Kings were unable to build on their roadtrip as they fell by a 4-2 final on Wednesday evening against the Seattle Kraken.
On the game’s first power play, the Kings opened the scoring through forward Andrei Kuzmenko. Stationed in the left-hand circle, Kuzmenko took a feed from defenseman Brandt Clarke and worked his way towards the net. He picked his spot, five hole, and beat Kraken netminder Joey Daccord clean with a shot for his 12th goal of the season and an early 1-0 lead.
Seattle pushed back, however, with two goals in 58 seconds to flip the script with a 2-1 advantage.
First, Kraken forward Ryan Winterton picked off a D-to-D pass behind the goal line and fed forward Shane Wright in front of the net, where he finished on the backhand for his tenth goal of the season to tie the game at one. Then, less than a minute later, Seattle pulled ahead with a low-to-high play, as forward Chandler Stephenson fed defenseman Adam Larsson crashing in from the right point, where he buried from the slot for a 2-1 lead.
The visitors tacked on a third goal later in the opening period to take a 3-1 lead into the first intermission. Skating on the man advantage, Seattle attacked off the rush, as defenseman Vince Dunn cut inside at the offensive blue line and drove towards the net. Dunn worked his way into the right-hand circle and beat Kings goaltender Darcy Kuemper with a low, backhanded shot to put the Kraken up by a pair.
The Kings capitalized on another power play midway through the second period to pull back within a goal. Fiala nearly lost an edge but was able to maintain possession, feeding forward Adrian Kempe below the goal line. Kempe quickly worked the puck to Kuzmenko in the slot, where he buried his shot first time for his second goal of the evening, pushing Los Angeles back to a goal down at 3-2.
The visitors added a fourth goal, their second of the game on the power play, to restore the two-goal advantage. Activating out of the corner, forward Frederick Gaudreau found Wright through the slot and the Seattle centerman buried at the back post for his second goal of the game to put the Kraken up 4-2. Both Wright and Gaudreau collected their second goals of the game on the play.
Hear from Kuzmenko, Clarke and Head Coach Jim Hiller after tonight’s game.
