PIT FINAL 16X9

The Kings fell 5-1 to the Pittsburgh Penguins in their return to Crypto.com Arena on Monday night. Playing in their first game back on home ice in 16 days after having their previous home game on January 8th postponed due to the LA wildfires, the Kings held an on ice moment of silence prior to puck drop for the many lives that have been both lost and affected in the fires. A special recognition for the multiple fire departments was also conducted with dozens of fire fighters in attendance on the ice.

As for the game itself, it’s one that the Kings can hopefully put behind themselves. The Kings sloppy defensive zone play early in the game put the Penguins on the power play and into a deficit that they would not catch up to. The game’s first goal came midway into the first period when Kevin Hayes drove to the net aggressively on the Penguins man advantage. Closing in on the Kings net, Joel Edmundson’s poke check attempt caught the puck but rode up his blade and ricocheted past David Rittich into the net. The Penguins doubled their lead exactly four minutes later when the Kings breakout attempt went unsuccessful. Causing a turnover, the Penguins gained possession of the puck and Sidney Crosby tipped in a Matt Grzelcyk point shot. After 20 minutes, the Kings trailed by two and were doubled up in shots 12-6.

The Penguins added to their lead 8:26 into the second period to make it 3-0 when Evgeni Malkin closed out a sequence of superb puck movement. The Kings lone push in the game came late in second period and on the power play. Netting a goal on the power play for the third consecutive game, this goal came on just the Kings second 5-on-3 opportunity of the season. Having just rang the puck off of the post with a one-timer mere seconds earlier, Adrian Kemoe tried again and the second time was the charm on this occasion, beating Alex Nedeljkovic just under the crossbar. Kempe’s goal is his 22nd of the season and gives the Swede goals in five straight games against the Penguins. Momentum short lived, the Penguins fought off the remainder of their second penalty and scored just 1:30 later. Cody Glass pushed the lead back to three for the Penguins, tapping in a backdoor slot pass from Hayes with 1:00 to go in the second period.

The fifth and final goal for the Penguins came from Anthony Beauvillier 6:57 into the third period. A Crosby pass from behind the Kings goal line set up his longtime teammate Kris Letang for one-timer in the slot. Letang’s shot was initially stopped by Rittich, but unaware of the rebound’s whereabouts just beside his pad in the crease, Beauvillier cleaned up the loose puck for his 11th goal of the season.

Rittich stopped 27 of 32 shots on the night.

Next up, the Kings will host last year’s Stanley Cup champions, the Florida Panthers on Wednesday at 7:00 PM on TNT.

PIT at LAK | Recap