Coming into Wednesday’s game holding a record of 15-4-1 immediately following a loss with Jim Hiller as LA’s bench boss should have been encouraging for a Kings team looking to get back on track. Having won two of their last three games in Colorado should have also increased the pregame positivity. Then, Adrian Kempe scored just 32 seconds after puck drop on Thursday night at Ball Arena, which should have further boosted confidence up and down the Kings bench.
Exactly why things went sour remains a little unclear. Despite the Avs tying the score early in P1, Kempe came back and scored again to give his team a 2-1 lead at intermission. Then the first wheel fell off that train, though, when the Kings went an entire second period without a single shot on goal.
STATS CHECK
Kings first shotless period since 3/31/2011
LA had zero 3rd period shots in a 3-1 loss at Vancouver
s/t @Psuicer7
— The Mayor | Team MM (@mayorNHL) November 14, 2024
By the time second intermission rolled around, Colorado had tied the game 2-2; despite the fact it could have been a far more dire situation. And then another wheel came off. Less than five minutes into P3, Darcy Kuemper appeared to injure himself, leaving the game and allowing David Rittich to take over in net. While the latter only gave up one goal in relief, it was Mikko Rantanen’s second marker of the night and proved to be the game winner. Nearly all the steam came out of LA after 20 minutes of play. Whatever puffs of smoke were left, they evaporated at that point.
After a healthy diet of road games, and a rather compacted schedule, LA now returns home to play Detroit, Buffalo, and Seattle. Only three games over an 11-day period. Perhaps Hiller will have a few fresh ideas to work on during the practices sprinkled in over that run because this stretch of three losses in four games (including last week’s defeat at the hands of Vancouver) aren’t the type of ‘good’ losses most NHL coaches will accept.
Lineup Notes: As noted in Wednesday’s pregame article (linked below for reference), Trevor Moore played on the top line alongside Kempe and Anze Kopitar. As they did during the second half of Monday’s game in Calgary, the trio had jump and were making things happen. Kempe’s goals were both assisted by his two linemates. Other than Kempe, the only Kings skater to have more than a single shot on goal was Andre Lee, who recorded two. Kopitar led the way in faceoffs, winning 77% of his draws; Phil Danault won 64% and Quinton Byfield won 50% — he also took the second most draws (16), trailing only Kopitar (26).
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