The Los Angeles Kings suffered the second straight overtime loss of their road trip this afternoon, falling 8-7 to the Ottawa Senators.
The Kings looked sluggish out of the gate, with the first few minutes of the game being spent primarily in their own end. Only about a third of the way into the period though, Tanner Jeannot ran over Artem Zub with a huge hit, and while Jeannot ended up having to answer to it and subsequently being on the losing end of a fight with Zack MacEwen, the Kings got a power play as a result.
On the man advantage, Los Angeles capitalized, with Kevin Fiala taking a pass in the slot and beating Anton Forsberg to open the scoring. Then only 55 seconds later with the teams back at even strength, Alex Turcotte came around the net and threw a shot at Forsberg, with it deflecting in off Forsberg to quickly make it a 2-0 game.
However, Kevin Fiala took a bad penalty shortly after, sending Ottawa to their first power play. On the ensuing man advantage, Jake Sanderson moved down from the line to beat Darcy Kuemper with a nice shot, cutting the lead to one.
Despite the lead, it wasn’t a great opening frame for Los Angeles. They couldn't sustain much pressure at even strength, were outshot, and counted on Kuemper for some good saves.
The Senators then once again had pressure to open the second period, but on a chance the other way, it looked like Brandt Clarke had redirected a puck in to extend the lead. On a challenge though, the call was overturned for goalie interference.
However, right after this, Shane Pinto flipped the puck over the glass for a delay of game penalty, and Adrian Kempe one-timed a shot past Forsberg on a power play, putting the Kings back up by two and chasing Forsberg from the game.
Just as that looked like it took momentum away from Ottawa, a little later, Zack MacEwen ripped a shot past Kuemper from the top of the zone out of nowhere, making it 3-2.
Once again though, Los Angeles came right back to reinstate the two-goal lead under a minute later, as Alex Laferriere deflected in a shot from Kyle Burroughs.
Still, Ottawa kept coming, first with Drake Batherson beating Kuemper on a power play with a well-placed shot from the slot. Then only 19 seconds later, Thomas Chabot took a pass on a rush and made a move to out-wait Kuemper and bury a puck into a wide open net, tying the game at 4-4.
Right after the Chabot goal though, Brady Tkachuk took a goalie interference penalty, and Los Angeles capitalized once again, with Kevin Fiala scoring his second power play goal of the game.
However, only a minute and a half after that, Ottawa came back down ice, with MacEwen beating Kuemper five-hole for his second goal of the game, tying it up at 5-5 through 40 minutes.
Aside from a small stretch of time after they went up 3-1, Los Angeles continued to look out of sorts. They began to allow rush chance after rush chance, consistently blowing their coverage, and were lucky for the game to even be tied.
In the third period though, Alex Laferriere put the Kings back ahead under four minutes in, putting a shot through Mads Sogaard.
However, another penalty put the Kings shorthanded, where Claude Giroux was able to deke to the backhand and beat Kuemper tying the game once again. The Kings then challenged, and were unsuccessful, putting Ottawa back on another man advantage.
While the Senators couldn’t convert there, Mikey Anderson took a holding penalty soon after the most recent power play had expired, and this time, Josh Norris beat Kuemper, giving the Senators their first lead.
But the back-and-forth continued, and with a little over five minutes to go, Tanner Jeannot put a shot past Sogaard from the side of the net, tying the game at 7-7.
The Kings then had a golden chance to take the lead once and for all on a late power play, and while they did have some pressure and momentum for one of the first times all game, they couldn’t convert, and the contest continued to overtime.
In the extra frame, after some rush chances were exchanged, Josh Norris took a pass in the slot and beat Kuemper five-hole, giving the Senators the extra point.
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You’d think in a game where Los Angeles scored seven goals, there’d be a lot of praise to go around – but that’s simply not the case.
Ottawa outshot Los Angeles 41-26, and had the momentum through the majority of the game. It felt like for a lot of the contest, Ottawa would pressure, but the Kings would then manage to capitalize off either a one-off chance, or a power play.
At even strength, the Kings often looked outmatched. They managed just 17 shots at 5-on-5 (according to NaturalStatTrick.com), and as the game wore on, Los Angeles was allowing more dangerous chances, and more often. There were countless rush opportunities where nobody was there to pick up the trailer, leaving Ottawa with a golden chance from a prime location. Kuemper wasn’t great, but it would be irresponsible to blame goaltending for the loss.
I suppose in terms of special teams, going 3-for-5 on power plays is a nice development. But it also doesn’t mean much when you only successfully kill two of six penalties.
This outing drew similarities to the opener in Buffalo, where they were outplayed, but managed to hang around. Against the Sabres, it was because of their own goaltending, where Kuemper almost single-handedly dragged them to the win. This time, it went the other way, where Ottawa really didn’t get a save, and the Kings capitalized on what seemed like every chance they had.
Even now with four out of a possible six points, the Kings’ path to get to that mark is worrisome. Their best game so far was the loss to Boston, and even there, it’s not necessarily like the Kings were the better team outright. Even if their points percentage may not paint the picture, it's been a tough start to the year.
The Kings will be back in action on Wednesday, when they face the Toronto Maple Leafs.
OTHER ARTICLES FROM OCTOBER
- Are the Kings destined to be a middle-of-the-pack team this season?
- Darcy Kuemper shines as Kings sneak out win over Sabres in season opener
- Kings come up short against Bruins, fall 2-1 in overtime
Los Angeles Kings Blogger • 
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