The Week That Was
It was a tale of two stories this past week; one being that the Kings continued their excellent road play and the other being the home struggles. Overall, the Kings went 1-1-1 across the three games and remain third in the Pacific Division with a 8-3-3 record.
The week began on a high note when the Kings concluded a four-game trip in Sin City. Knocking off the Vegas Golden Knights 4-1, the Kings improved their road record to 7-0-0, becoming the eighth team in NHL history to begin the season with seven straight road wins. Jordan Spence played one of the best games of his young career on this particular night as the Australian-born defenseman notched a two-assist game. Spence tallied two primary helpers with two shots from the point leading to a rebound goal by Adrian Kempe and a deflection goal by Trevor Moore. Pierre-Luc Dubois also found the back of the net on the power play to snap a seven-game goalless drought. But it was Anze Kopitar who stole the headlines when the Kings captain netted his 400th career goal. Kopitar capped off the win with an empty net goal from the defensive zone and in doing so joined Luc Robitaille (557), Marcel Dionne (550) and Dave Taylor (431) as the only four Kings to have reached the 400-goal milestone.
Following their fourth consecutive win, Kings then returned home to kick off a four-game home stand. Beginning with the veteran led Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday night, the Kings fell 4-3 in overtime. Despite the loss, a pair of Swedish forwards struck for goals in the first period. Adrian Kempe and Carl Grundstrom gave the Kings a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes, but that would be the only lead the Kings would hold. Knotted at 2-2 after 40 minutes, the Kings fell behind just 37 seconds into the third period when Sidney Crosby found Jake Guentzel backdoor. Trailing by one, Kevin Fiala evened the game with a rebound goal for his second goal this season. The teams headed to overtime after 60 minutes and not one, but two overtime goals by Bryan Rust earned the Penguins the extra point. Rust’s first OT goal was disallowed after a review deemed the play to be offsides, but just seconds after the resumption of play Rust beat Pheonix Copley for a second time on the same shift with a wraparound goal.
After earning a point against the Penguins, the Kings then took an eight-game point streak into Saturday’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers. Up against a few familiar faces, the Kings welcomed in Cal Petersen and Sean Walker back into Crypto.com Arena for the first time since the two were traded from the Kings to the Flyers this past offseason. Unfortunately, Petersen, Walker and Flyers got the last laugh winning the game 4-2.
The Flyers jumped out to a 3-0 lead halfway into the game and were able to maintain distance between themselves and the Kings the rest of the way. The aforementioned pair of Swedes each scored again for the second consecutive game as Grundstrom first scored his sixth goal of the season in his 200th career game, followed by Kempe recording his seventh goal of the season. Kempe’s goal also extends his career-long point streak to nine games (6-7=13).
Notable News From The Week That Was:
- After outshooting the Penguins and Flyers 73-46 in their two games at Crypto.com Arena, the Kings have outshot their opponents in six straight home games.
- The Kings remain second in the NHL in offense, averaging an even 4.00 goals per game.
- With his second straight four-point week (3-1=4), Adrian Kempe led the Kings in scoring across the three-game week. Kempe now holds sole possession for the team lead in points (7-9=16).
- The Kings power play went 2-for-10 across the three games, placing them 17th in the NHL (18.6%).
- The Kings penalty kill went a perfect 8-for-8 in the three games, jumping up six places from last week to 4th in the NHL (87.2%).
The Week That Is
The Kings have just two home games on the schedule this week, one game coming against each conference. Looking to improve on a 1-3-3 start on home ice, the Kings are set to host the reigning Eastern Conference champion Florida Panthers on Thursday and the St. Louis Blues on Saturday.
The Kings next game comes against the aforementioned Panthers, a team that has won four straight games and plays the San Jose Sharks between now and Thursday. Currently holding a record of 9-4-1 and sitting second in Atlantic Division, the Panthers are riding the hot hand of Sam Reinhart. Reinhart was named the NHL’s first star this past week with 10 points (3-7=10) in four games. Reinhart’s quick start to the season has been on pace with the Panthers franchise all-time greats as he required the second-fewest games by a Florida player to reach 10 goals in a campaign behind Pavel Bure (9 GP in 1998-99) and matched the franchise mark for the fewest contests to 20 points (also Matthew Tkachuk in 2022-23 & Jonathan Huberdeau in 2020-21).
Thursday’s tilt will display a battle of strengths. The Panthers rank third the NHL in shots for per game (31.4) and sixth in shots against per game (28.0). In contrast, the Kings ranking in the two categories are flip flopped, ranking sixth in in shots for per game (33.3) and third in shots against per game (27.5). One more area the Panthers are elite is in net where Sergei Bobrovsky leads the NHL in wins (8).
Two nights later, the Blues come to town for their first of three meetings between the two this season. In their only trip to LA this season, the Blues will be looking to build off of an 8-2 victory over the Colorado Avalanche. The Blues rank tied for last in the NHL on the power play percentage (8.7%), but were 2-for-4 in their last game. Leading the way offensively for the Blues is Robert Thomas who has 15 points (6-9=15), six more points than any teammate. The Blues currently sit in the second wildcard spot with a 7-5-1 record.
Upcoming games this week:
