The Week That Was
The Kings extended their winning streak to five games this past week with victories in Arizona and Anaheim, then a home win over Montreal. With three victories, the Kings (13-3-3) have now moved into a tie for second place in the Pacific Division with the Vancouver Canucks (14-7-1); each with 29 points. Here’s how we got there.
Beginning with their Monday night win in the desert, the Kings came out victorious against the Arizona Coyotes 4-1 to complete the three-game season series sweep. Having defeated the Coyotes in back-to-back games in late October, the Kings made their second trip to Arizona and left with two more points thanks partly to a two-goal performance by Trevor Moore. Moore logged his eighth and ninth goals on the season, one coming shorthanded and one at even strength. Moore’s shorthanded goal opened the scoring as he netted his ninth goal while penalty killing, the most among any Kings skater since his debut with the team on Feb. 8, 2020. Anze Kopitar then doubled the lead 8:20 into the game, scoring his ninth goal of the season. With the goal, Kopitar has tallied 100 career point (31-69=100; regular-season and playoffs) against the Coyotes franchise. Per NHL PR, Kopitar becomes the fourth active skater with 100+ points versus a single franchise (regular season and playoffs), joining Sidney Crosby (PHI, NYI, NYR & WSH), Alex Ovechkin (CAR, TBL & PIT) and Evgeni Malkin (PHI, NYI).
The Kings netted a pair more, Moore’s second of the night and a Phillip Danault wrister, his fourth of the season to put the Coyotes away 4-1.
Four days between games, the Kings faced off against the Anaheim Ducks for the first of four times this season in a Black Friday matinee. Special teams played a big part of this game as the Kings converted on their first two power play opportunities in the first period. Beginning with a Kevin Fiala rebound goal from a tight angle, the Swiss forward netted his first of two goals on the afternoon 10:25 into the game. Assisting on the Fiala goal was the captain, and with that, Kopitar tallied his 757th career assist which ties Marcel Dionne (757) for the most assists in franchise history.
Arthur Kaliyev then found just 2:01 later on the man advantage for his fourth of the season. Leading by two entering the second period, another pair of Kings goals not far apart push the lead to 4-0. A Quinton Byfield impressive tip-in just 1:17 into the period preceded Fiala’s second goal of the of the game 2:56 into the middle stanza. The two-goal performance for Fiala was his first multi-goal game of the season. Just under 10 minutes later, Radko Gudas got the Ducks on the board with a slapshot goal to send the game into the third period with a score of 4-1.
It was Kopitar again finding the scoresheet with his 10th goal of the season 3:21 into the third period. Kopitar one-timed in a beautiful and deceitful pass from Adrian Kempe, his 12th helper of the year. An Alex Killorn power-play goal made the game 5-2 midway into the period, but that was all the scoring in this game. With the win, the Kings improve their away record to start the season to 9-0-0. With their victory, the Kings are just the third team in NHL history to win each of their first nine road games to start a season: 2006-07 Buffalo Sabres (10 GP), and 2009-10 New Jersey Devils (9 GP).
Closing out the week that was, the Kings picked up their second shutout victory of the season. Defeating the Montreal Canadiens 4-0, another two-goal performance by Trevor Moore, his team-leading third multi-goal game of the season was the difference. Carl Grundrstom notched his seventh goal of the season blasting a slapshot passed Jake Allen late in the first period. From there, it was the Trevor’s who took over. Two goals from Trevor Moore and another from Trevor Lewis filled out the scoresheet as Phoenix Copley stopped all 18 Canadiens shots. Moving to 3-0-2 on the season, Copley becomes the first Kings goalie to record at least one point during each of his first five decisions in a season since Darcy Kuemper (5-0-3) and Jonathan Quick (5-0-1) in 2017-18.
Notable News From The Week That Was:
- Pheonix Copley went 2-0-0 on the week, stopping 49 of 50 shots.
- The Kings are now tied for first in the NHL in scoring with the Vancouver Canucks, averaging 4.00 goals per game.
- Trevor Moore led the Kings in scoring this past week, putting up six points (4-2=6) across the three games. Moore’s explosive week offensively now moves him into the goalscoring lead for the Kings.
- The Kings power play went 2-for-9 across the three games, placing them 16th in the NHL (20.8%).
- The Kings penalty kill went 10-for-11 in the three games, moving up to 1st in the NHL (89.4%).
The Week That Is
It’s a quieter week than normal coming up as the Kings will play just two games. Both games are set to take place at Crypto.com Arena as the Kings will host the Washington Capitals on Wednesday night and the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday evening.
Sitting just one point outside of the Eastern Conference playoffs right now, the 10-5-2 Washington Capitals come to town for their one and only trip to LA. The Kings will be stop two of a five-game west coast road trip for the Capitals. All eyes will be on Alexander Ovechkin as he continues to chase down Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goalscoring record of 894 goals. Ovechkin, who’s found the back of the net five times in 17 games this season now sits at 827 career goals and counting. As a team the Capitals have struggled to score this season, averaging an NHL’s second worst 2.41 goals per game while the Kings are averaging an NHL best 4.00 goals per game. Dating back to the 2018-19 season, the Capitals have won six of the last eight meetings.
After a rare Saturday without a game this week, Kings fans will have to wait until Sunday for a Western Conference heavyweight battle. The Central Division leading Colorado Avalanche come to town for the second and final time this season after having defeated the Kings 5-2 in the season opener. With two games between now and the time that the Avalanche face the Kings, as it stands the Avalanche have won three games in a row and six of their last seven. Like the Kings, the Avalanche can score as they rank third in the NHL, averaging 3.75 goals per game. Also like the Kings, the Avalanche’s penalty kill ranks high in the league, an impressive fifth in the NHL at 87.5%. Anytime you talk about the Avalanche, you’ve got to talk about Cale Makar. Makar leads the Avalanche in assists (25) and points (30). The 25 assists is tied for first in the NHL alongside Vancouver’s Quinn Hughes and the 30 points ranks fifth in the NHL. Dating back to March 13, 2021, the Avalanche have won 11 of 13 games against the Kings.
Upcoming games this week:
