The Kings made it two wins in as many days on Sunday evening in Sin City. Concluding their four-game season series against the Vegas Golden Knights, the Kings won 6-5 to take six of a possible eight points from the Pacific Division leaders.
The Kings opened the game by playing one of their best periods of the season. Not only did the Kings completely dictate play and outshoot the Golden Knights 16-7, but they also netted the first two goals of the game. Starting the scoring with 8:38 to go in the first, captain Anze Kopitar made it goals in three of the last four games when he tipped in a point shot just in front of the crease for the second consecutive night. Assists on the Kopitar tally went to the shooter Joel Edmundson and Brandt Clarke, who changed the point of attack before finding his open defensive partner in the middle of the ice. The Kings then doubled their lead late in the period with 1:31 remaining on a beautiful individual read and effort by Clarke. After a big rebound from an Adrian Kempe point shot was directed out into the slot, Clarke beat Jack Eichel to the loose puck, went forehand to backhand past a sprawling Adin Hill and slid the puck into the open net for his fifth goal and 27th point of the season.
The Kings then extended their lead to three goals 1:56 into the second period when a line rush by the Quinton Byfield, Kevin Fiala and Alex Laferriere line all factored in on a goal. Entering the Vegas zone with speed, Laferriere found Byfield in the middle of the ice, who then dished the puck off to Fiala on the left wing side of the ice. Byfield then proceeded to drive towards the net in the center lane and as Fiala dragged and shot the puck, it deflected off of the outside of Byfield’s left skate, off the inside of the post and into the net. Having momentum on their side, the Kings’ Samuel Helenius and Nicolas Hague dropped the gloves at center ice following the Byfield goal and tilt brought an unwanted energy back into the building. Not long after the fight, the Golden Knights got on the board with a Nicolas Roy in tight rebound to make it 3-1. Then, one of the Kings least favorite opponents based on his success against the black, silver and white struck again. Tomas Hertl, who has already recorded a four-point game against the Kings this season cut the Kings lead to 3-2 after putting a Kings player in the spin cycle behind the net and ripped a shot past the blocker of David Rittich. Momentum back on the home team’s side, Warren Foegele put the Kings back up by a pair of goals with just 1:09 to go in the second period. Immediately after coming off the Kings bench, Foegele received a pass in stride in the neutral zone from Phillip Danault and sped around a Golden Knights defenseman for a contested breakaway from a tight angle. Foegele protected the puck from Hague on his backhand side, brought it to his forehand and roofed the puck short-side high past Hill for his 18th goal of the season. The Kings took that 4-2 lead into the third period.
Chaos ensued in third period as both teams combined for five goals in final 20 minutes of regulation. The Kings retook a brief three-goal lead on the Golden Knights with 15:58 to go in the game when Trevor Moore beautifully deked around a pair of Golden Knights and fired a quick snap shot high on the glove side for his 13th goal of the season and second tally in the last three games. Hertl then buried his second goal of the game on the Golden Knights only power play of the night. Receiving a pass from Mark Stone wide open just above Rittich’s crease, Hertl buried the goal five hole. Now 5-3 in favor of the visitors, the Kings responded by scoring on their only man advantage of the game. Coming off of a set play power play offensive zone entry, Kempe was sprung for a breakaway and beat Hill five hole for his team-leading 27th goal of the season. Back up by three with 9:03 to go in the game, the Kings had no time breathe as the Golden Knights found the net just 36 seconds later. A cross ice dump in attempt from the Golden Knights deflected off of Clarke and the puck dropped directly down into the slot. Brandon Saad quickly ripped a shot and caught Rittich by surprise as it trickled past the goal line to make it a 6-4 game. With the Kings leading by two late in regulation, the Golden Knights pulled Hill and with just under three minutes remaining and who other than Hertl found the back of the net again. Completing the hat trick, Hertl scored his third goal of the game in the exact same way he netted his second, off of a pass from Stone and through five hole of Rittich from just above the crease. Now down to a one-goal game, the Kings held on after multiple 6-on-5 chances from the Golden Knights in the dying seconds went unsuccessful.
Rittich stopped 27 of 32 shots on the night and earned his 13th win of the season, matching his win total from all of last season.
Also worth noting from tonight’s game, a pair of milestones were hit and surprisingly, it wasn’t from Kopitar. Both Foegele and Vladislav Gavrikov each notched their 100th career assists.
