The Kings closed out a perfect three-game home stand on Saturday night with the 4-3 overtime defeat of the Tampa Bay Lightning. While the game ended with two points in favor of the Kings, the outcome was not as straightforward as it could have been.
The Kings jumped out to a 1-0 lead 7:03 into the game after a defensive zone turnover by the Lightning resulted in the Kings’ top line all getting involved. A Byfield takeaway led to a drop pass to Anze Kopitar, and from there, the captain found a backdoor Adrian Kempe for his 28th goal of the season. Up 1-0 late in first period, a Lightning power play ensued and the NHL’s top power play and top penalty kill went head-to-head. On this occasion, the battle went in favor of the Lightning as it took just 14 seconds to tie the game. After a net-front centering pass from the NHL’s leading scorer Nikita Kucherov failed to connect cleaning with Brayden Point, a battle in front of Cam Talbot took place between Point and Matt Roy. It was there that Roy accidentally knocked the puck into his own net, resulting in Point’s 41st goal of the season.
Enter period two and the Kings quickly regained the lead. Striking back 2:08 into the middle stanza, Pierre-Luc Dubois’ second effort found a backdoor Trevor Moore, who potted his team-leading 26th goal of the season and further extended his career high in that category. The remaining 17:52 of the second period went scoreless and the Kings took a one-goal lead into the final 20 minutes of regulation.
It was there that the Kings again found offense in the opening stages. This time just 1:12 into the period, Mikey Anderson took a poor drop pass from the Lightning’s Point and went in on a 2-on-1 with Kevin Fiala. Choosing to keep it himself, Anderson beat Andrei Vasilevskiy low-glove and put the Kings up 3-1 with his second glam of the season and 17th point, now three points shy of typing his career-high set in 2022-23.
The Kings held onto that two-goal lead for roughly 14 minutes, but the Lightning’s comeback began with 4:35 to go in regulation. Cutting the lead in half was Steven Stamkos who blasted a one-timer with one second remaining on a Kings penalty for his 28th goal of the season. Then, with less than a minute remaining in regulation, Stamkos struck again with another one-timer to even the game and send it into overtime.
With each team already picking up one point, it didn’t take long to find out who would get the second point. After a face-off win by Anze Kopitar on the opening draw, the Kings set up in their own zone for a break out and sprung Vladislav Gavrikov for a breakaway. Gavrikov went low-blocker and called game with his sixth goal of the season just 25 seconds into the extra session.
Talbot stopped 21 of 24 shots and picked up his 22nd win of the season.
