The game-opening goal didn’t result in a game-winning result for the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday at Benchmark International Arena.
Despite Tampa Bay holding a 1-0 lead after the first period, the Kings got a pair of goals from Adrian Kempe in the second period and held on to take a 2-1 win.
The Lightning fell to 18-13-2 with the loss.
"We out-shot attempted them, like, 78 to 33. I don't know how much more we could do, but some of it comes down to execution. And when we had a chance to execute, we really didn't. And when we did execute, the goalie made the big save,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said of the loss.
Brayden Point didn’t register a point on the game-opening goal, but he helped the Lightning take a 1-0 lead on the power play.
Point chased down Los Angeles’ Joel Armia in the neutral zone before stripping him of the puck and sending his teammates on an odd-man rush back toward the Kings net. Jake Guentzel entered the zone on the right side and fed a pass to Anthony Cirelli in the left circle, who found Oliver Bjorkstrand all alone in front of the Los Angeles net.
Kings goalie Anton Forsberg made the first stop, but Bjorkstrand slid his rebound shot five-hole for the 1-0 advantage with 7:06 left in the period.
Bjorkstrand and Guentzel each have six points over the team’s last five games.
Los Angeles tied the game 5:12 into the second period. Kempe skated into the offensive zone and sent his shot from the top of the circles into the lower right corner of the net.
Kempe then handed the visitors’ their first lead of the night with the lone score of the second period, this one on a backhand goal to finish a breakaway chance with 4:02 remaining.
Kings goaltender Anton Forsberg was busy in the game, stopping 31 of 32 Lightning shots on goal. He made a sprawling glove stop on Dominic James at the buzzer to end the first period, one that kept the Lightning from taking a 2-0 lead.
The game marked the return of Tampa Bay’s starting goalie in Andrei Vasilevskiy, who finished with 18 saves after missing six games with an undisclosed injury.
Vasilevskiy was joined in his return by defenseman Ryan McDonagh, who returned to the Lightning lineup after an 18-game absence due to a lower-body injury. McDonagh played 17:49 time on ice and registered one shot on goal.
The Lightning played the Kings without leading scorer Nikita Kucherov due to illness, and forward Anthony Cirelli left in the third period due to an apparent injury.
Tampa Bay will hope to get back in the win column when they host the Carolina Hurricanes this Saturday at 7 p.m. They will aim for more victories, particularly at Benchmark International Arena, as the 2025 calendar closes.
The Lightning are now 8-9-0 on home ice this season.
"We haven't done a well enough job this year of making this a tough place to play. We've found some success on the road, but we've got to take pride in making this a tough building for teams to come into,” McDonagh said.
“And for whatever reason, we just didn't quite have that killer instinct, that urgency to keep putting the gas pedal down on them. And give them credit, they capitalized on the looks that they had. We had a lot of looks too, but like I said, we've got to establish 60 minutes of relentless hockey here, especially at home."
Benjamin’s Three Stars:
- Anton Forsberg, LAK (31 saves, win)
- Adrian Kempe, LAK (2 goals)
- Oliver Bjorkstrand, TBL (Goal)
