The Los Angeles Kings came up short against the Chicago Blackhawks today, falling 4-3 in a shootout.
First Period
The Kings got off to an excellent start, outplaying Chicago early, and pulling ahead only four minutes into the game when Alex Laferriere finished off a pass from Anze Kopitar on a power play.
Los Angeles followed with another power play chance shortly after, and Adrian Kempe had a great chance off another nice pass from Kopitar, but he was stopped by Petr Mrazek.
Chicago had their first chance of the game off a shot from Ryan Donato a little after the midway mark of the frame, but rang it off the post. Phillip Danault then had an opportunity to extend the lead later in the period with a wraparound that hit the post, before we saw a fight between Tanner Jeannot and Nick Foligno a little later. Darcy Kuemper then needed to make a big save at the end of the period on Craig Smith, getting the Kings to the intermission with the lead.
Overall though, it was a really strong opening frame from Los Angeles, outshooting Chicago 12-4 in the frame.
Second Period
The Kings had another power play chance early in the second period, and did have more opportunities, but couldn’t take advantage. Mikey Anderson ended up taking the Kings’ first penalty of the game from there, but the Kings did a good job killing off the Chicago power play without giving up much.
The fourth line had a decent chance from Tanner Jeannot in front later on, before Brandt Clarke took a (weak) slashing penalty. But Los Angeles once again did a good job preventing chances, and Warren Foegele had an opportunity shorthanded.
Then with just over a minute to go in the frame, Alex Laferriere took a pass in the slot and beat Mrazek for his second goal of the game, increasing the lead to 2-0.
While it was a bit less uneventful than the first period, the Kings were doing a really good job defensively, getting into lanes and keeping Chicago to the outside on most rushes. They outshot the Blackhawks 11-4 in the frame, and were holding pretty firm control of the game through 40 minutes.
Third Period
Chicago did get on the board early in the third period though when Nick Foligno just threw a shot on net and it somehow got behind Kuemper, and eventually crossed the line. It’s one that Kuemper would certainly want back.
Then only minutes later, Lukas Reichel came down ice, dodging multiple opponents, and after making an entry, he got the puck over to Craig Smith who beat Kuemper to tie the game. So after 40 dominant minutes, the Kings’ lead was quickly erased within the first six minutes of the third period.
We saw chances at both ends after that, where Quinton Byfield had an opportunity from the slot for the Kings, then both Taylor Hall and Ilya Mikheyev had some near misses the other way.
But with about eight minutes to go, a Kevin Fiala shot missed wide and then Phillip Danault was able to bury the rebound, putting Los Angeles back ahead.
Chicago did pull the goalie in the final minutes though, and while the it looked like the Kings would escape with the win, with only 31 seconds to go, Tyler Bertuzzi managed to tap in a puck to tie the game, sending the contest to overtime.
Overtime and Shootout
We did get a good a really entertaining overtime from there, and the Kings had two great opportunities in the first couple minutes from both Kevin Fiala and Quinton Byfield, but Mrazek came up with some big saves. The shortly after, both Brandt Clarke and Adrian Kempe had some excellent chances as well, with Mrazek keeping Chicago in the game.
Connor Bedard then had an excellent chance the other way, getting to the net around Warren Foegele with a nice move and then hitting the post, before being denied on a second opportunity shortly after. But after neither team could convert, the game continued to a shootout.
Trevor Moore scored first as the initial shooter, but Connor Bedard quickly evened it for Chicago. Then after Alex Laferriere couldn’t convert, Teuvo Teravainen went to the backhand to roof a shot over Kuemper. Adrian Kempe had to score as the Kings’ third shooter, and managed to beat Mrazek five hole to keep Los Angeles alive.
However, Ryan Donato came in as Chicago’s third shooter, and completely deked Kuemper to slide the puck into the open cage, winning it for the Blackhawks.
Takeaways
It was a really strong game for the Kings, that ended in a disappointing result.
The first 40 minutes was one of the best stretches we’ve seen from the Kings this season. Los Angeles had outshot Chicago by a massive 23-8 margin, and held a multi-goal lead. Aside from maybe one or two good chances, they had completely shut down the Blackhawks’ offense.
But a stretch of about six minutes in the third period let Chicago back into the game. It wasn’t even a bad period for the Kings, just not as dominant, and then they lost the goaltending battle.
I’ve thought Kuemper has been generally quite good this season, but this was a tough outing. The first goal was particularly bad, and while Mrazek was the reason the Blackhawks were able to hang around, Kuemper was a part of the reason the Kings couldn’t get out with two points. It’s certainly not all on him, but giving up three goals on 21 shots while Mrazek was playing as good as he was, and then losing in the shootout when his team went 2-for-3 on their attempts is a tough outcome.
I still think there were a lot of things to like in the loss, though. It was a good defensive outing with a full-team effort, where it felt like for the most part, everyone was helping out in their own end.
It was good to see the Fiala-Danault-Moore line convert as well. Danault and Moore have been quiet this season offensively, and Fiala has had his own share of adversity. But Danault had a well-rounded game overall with some good plays in his own end as well, and Fiala has looked good in the two games since getting back into the lineup.
Alex Laferriere also continued his outstanding start to the season, picking up his seventh and eighth goals of the year already.
It’s a tough result to not get the win against one of the weaker teams in the league despite putting together a good game, but it’s still an outing where you end up drawing more positives than negatives.
Los Angeles will be back in action on Monday, when they open a back-to-back set against the Nashville Predators.
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