No one could have imagined a worse start for the Los Angeles Kings at home on Saturday night against the still undefeated Carolina Hurricanes. It took all of 20 seconds for the Kings to be put in a position in which they have been in four out of six times this season: playing from behind. Within the first five minutes of the opening frame, Jordan Staal was on hat-trick watch, and the Kings looked out of touch against a team that thrives on good starts.
“You guys have watched the Carolina Hurricanes; they start better than anybody in the National Hockey League. Very consistent, they come at you with a pace that you can’t work your way into, and it shouldn’t have surprised us,” Kings head coach Jim Hiller said. “That’s the most disappointing part of the game […] we weren’t ready to play at the pace they were ready to play at, and they are known for that.”
Regardless of knowing that the Hurricanes start games with that extra jump, this is a team that is 5-0-0 for a reason. This should have been a game where the Kings came out with an extra effort to survive an early push against the best team in hockey right now, not the opposite.
Individual mistakes aided all three Hurricanes’ goals. A lack of awareness allowed Staal to be wide open in front of the net twice. Cody Ceci was beaten around the net, which caused Quinton Byfield to attack his man, leaving the Hurricanes captain all alone for an easy tap-in at the far post. It went from bad to worse minutes later when Samuel Helenius made the head-scratching decision to chase a play in the corner, once again leaving Staal wide-open, this time right in the slot. Not the way the Kings wanted to start the game, giving an already confident Hurricanes team the opportunity to gain momentum.
Give a team like the Hurricanes an inch, and they will take a mile. And even though it didn’t reflect on the scoreboard, the Hurricanes did indeed take a mile, completely outclassing the Kings throughout the first 20 minutes.
Already in a hole, the last thing the Kings needed was another mistake to dig that hole even deeper. Andrei Kuzmenko went from patiently toe-dragging himself into a grade-A opportunity in the slot to making a blind pass at the blue line that immediately resulted in a 2-on-0 opportunity for the Hurricanes. Jesper Kotkaniemi had all the time in the world to make a nifty little backhand move, giving the Hurricanes a comfortable 3-0 lead.
A 3-0 lead should have been a comfortable one for the Hurricanes, but if you have been paying any attention at all to the Kings so far this season, you would know that, regardless of their performance, giving up is never an option.
Sparked by a Trevor Moore (extended his goal streak against the Hurricanes to five games) slapshot from the top of the left circle, which opened the Kings’ scoring, and the line combination of Adrian Kempe, Kevin Fiala, and Byfield, who tied the game at three, the Kings slowly but surely were able to send this one to overtime.
Sometimes, all it takes is a team’s three best forwards being thrown out on the ice together to try and get something going, and for Hiller, it was an idea he had floating in the back of his mind.
“I’ve had it in my mind and would keep it in my mind once Kopi went out for sure […] we got into a situation where we needed a spark and when I say we, maybe some of those players needed a spark too […] the big part was the goal they scored, they came through for us,” Hiller said when asked what his thought process was when creating that line halfway through the game.
Throughout all the inconsistencies and problems the Kings have faced through six games, if there’s one thing you can’t take from them, it’s their resilience. The unwavering ability to never give up and stick with it, no matter the deficit, is a major positive for a group that hasn’t had a lot of them. Their effort hasn’t been enough to collect two points, but it’s been good enough to at least pick up one, and it’s now been twice in three games that the Kings have fought back down three goals to send a game into overtime.
“It’s a positive thing that we can come back, obviously,” Kevin Fiala said. “We want to take the lead, not always chase from behind. It’s good to know we can chase, but it’s always nicer to have the lead, play with the lead.”
None of it would have been possible without Anton Forsberg, who has been tasked with being the number one guy while Darcy Kuemper is out with a lower-body injury. The Hurricanes created countless opportunities that could have resulted in a five or six-goal lead if it wasn’t for the 36 saves Forsberg made. The Swedish netminder bounced back in a huge way after a disappointing performance against the Pittsburgh Penguins, continuously keeping the idea of a comeback alive.
Related Link: Kings’ Rough Start Continues, Early Lead Evaporates in 4-2 Loss to Penguins
“He was great today, really good,” Kempe said of his goaltender. “As the game went on, down three, you have to take some risks, and when they got their chances, he was there to save us. Great game by him, he definitely kept us in the game and helped us get one point for sure.”
It’s 60-minute performances that the Kings have yet to provide. Whether it’s a sluggish start or a slow finish, the Kings can’t seem to piece it all together from start to finish, and it’s hindering their ability to collect points, now with a 1-3-2 record and a four-game losing streak. Their record also doesn’t reflect how close most of these games have been, and unfortunately for the Kings, they have mostly landed on the wrong side of them.
“It’s tough. If you win three of those OT games, then you know we’re all standing here all happy and laughing about it, so it’s very small details still, but obviously not in the spot we want to be so far,” Kempe said.
There have to be mixed feelings after a game like that. Their subpar start made it more difficult than it needed to be, and they dropped their fourth straight game. That being said, can the Kings find some solace in the fact that they were able to snag a point after being down multiple goals to a team that is off to a red-hot start?
More takeaways from a 4-3 OT loss to the Hurricanes.
Won The Special Teams Battle
Hiller spoke about the importance of winning the special teams battle following the Kings’ loss to the Penguins on Thursday. More specifically, about how the Kings hadn’t won the special teams battle up until that point.
Well, that all changed against the Hurricanes, where both the penalty kill and power play were perfect. The penalty kill went 3-for-3, which also featured a 5-on-3 for over a minute. The Kings also executed on the lone power play they received, where Byfield fed a wide-open Kuzmenko for a back-door tap-in.
“Penalty kill’s been leaking a little bit […] they did an excellent job. Power play scores. You think with where we have been with our start, that if we won the special teams battle, we’re going to be in a good spot, and yeah, we will just keep going,” Hiller said.
How About Moore, Foegele, & Danault?
It hasn’t been the best start for the Kings’ third line of Phillip Danault, Warren Foegele, and Moore. In fact, the best they looked before last night’s game was when Alex Turcotte took Danault’s place at center against the Penguins.
The trio was placed back together against the Hurricanes, and it ended up being the right move. They were all over the ice, and at 5-on-5, they were easily the Kings’ most dynamic line. They led in time on ice by a massive margin, expected goals for with 0.97, scoring chances for with 13, and high-danger scoring chances for with seven. No other Kings line combo came close to those numbers.
Moore himself drove that line’s offense, with one goal and seven of those 13 scoring chances that line created. There have been a few games now where Moore has been very noticeable, and even though he’s had multiple breakaways and point-blank chances that he hasn’t been able to convert on, he’s off to a way better and more confident start than he had last season.
There’s no beating around the bush. The Kings need a win, and they need a win badly. All it takes is one 60-minute performance and staying out of the box for this group to build some confidence, and their next chance to do that will be on Tuesday against the St. Louis Blues as they embark on a five-game road trip.
