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Monday was a golden opportunity for the LA Kings to gain separation on Vegas for third in the Pacific Division, but this chance slipped away with a 3-1 loss to the Minnesota Wild at Crypto.com Arena.
The loss also ended the Kings eight-game home winning streak — and it was a familiar tale.
On any given night this season, it’s typically been apparent within the first ten minutes of a game what type of Kings team had shown up, either a dominant or sleepy version. It presented itself once again on Monday, as Minnesota established momentum early and scored a power play goal to open the scoring in the first period.
Then, in what has largely plagued the Kings down the final stretch of regular season games, coach Jim Hiller’s group passed up several good shooting chances in order to make an extra pass or two. While LA had shown signs of improvement in this area in a few recent games, their disappointing effort against a team they should have beaten handily showed they still have work to do to get ready for the playoffs.
Unable to solve Wild goaltender Filip Gustavsson meant the Kings were blanked going into the third period for the tenth time this season. Blake Lizotte was able to get the Kings on the board with just over five minutes remaining in the game, but it was too little, too late.
A lone positive sign for the Kings on Monday was Anže Kopitar’s return to the lineup. LA’s captain missed Saturday’s contest against Anaheim but appears ready to go for the postseason.
Stat Sheet Takeaways: It’s usually tough to win a game when generating only 24 shots on goal. LA looked discombobulated offensively right from puck drop, something they didn’t struggle with at all in their recent 8-0-0 home record leading up to Monday’s action. A two-day break before their next game should give the Kings ample opportunity to reset mentally and get back to their offensive prowess later in the week.
Who Starts?: Do the Kings have a goaltending decision to make or has it already been made? Both Cam Talbot and David Rittich have played very strong hockey in the second half of the season. Similar to the Joonas Korpisalo – Phoenix Copley debate of last season, Talbot has put up more consistent numbers while Rittich has posted a better record. There doesn’t appear to be a wrong choice in net and it’ll be interesting to see who Hiller sends out for Game No. 83. The prevailing assumption is it will be Talbot.
One More to Go: LA will wrap up the regular season on Thursday against the Chicago Blackhawks. It’s a golden opportunity for the Kings to gain a final jolt of momentum heading into the postseason. They’ve thumped Chicago in both matchups so far this year, and a win would improve their record to 5-2-0 in the final seven games before the playoffs.
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