2 studs, 1 dud from LA Kings' spirited win vs. Tampa Bay

Two goals from star forward Adrian Kempe lifted the Los Angeles Kings (15-10-9) past the Tampa Bay Lightning (18-13-3) in the final game of a three-game road trip in the East on Thursday night (Dec. 18). The Kings and head coach Jim Hiller relied on strong and physical defensive play on their end of the ice, and some timely goals offensively to defeat the Lightning in a close one-goal contest in the back end of back-to-back games in Florida late this week.

Adrian Kempe and Anton Forsberg lead the Los Angeles Kings to a gritty one-goal win over the Lightning on the road

The Lightning got the early lead in this game in the opening frame in the first period, on a power play goal on special teams from forward Oliver Bjorkstrand. Tampa scored the game's only goal for the Lightning on an untimely penalty taken by Kempe in the game's first period yesterday.

But Kempe quickly redeemed himself on a nice goal in the middle frame in the second period to tie the game up on the scoreboard. Kempe's early second-period goal in the middle frame yesterday saw center captain Anze Kopitar register his 200th career point in the month of December for the Kings' franchise.

Later in the second period in the middle frame, Kempe gave the Kings the lead on the scoreboard for the first time yesterday with a nice goal that got past Andrei Vasilevskiy for a score of 2-1 before going into the locker room before the third period last night.

Defensively, the Kings played physical and tight in front of goalie Anton Forsberg in the final frame in the third period. Forsberg was great in goal down the stretch for Hiller and the Kings, stopping double-digit shots and double-digit scoring chances in the game's final 20 minutes in the final frame yesterday.

This win over the Lightning yesterday prevented Hiller and the Kings from losing five games in a row in the month of December in this past couple of weeks, and going the three-game road trip in the East without a single point in the standings in the West this week.

Here are two studs and one dud from the Kings' comeback 2-1 win on the road in the final game of the three-game road trip in the East late this week against the Lightning in Tampa on Dec. 18.

Stud: Adrian Kempe, W

Kempe played the role of hero for the Kings yesterday in the close 2-1 win over the Lightning in Tampa. The Kings' best player stepped up and was huge for Hiller's squad late this week on the road.

The goal Kempe scored early in the middle frame in the second period yesterday wasn't the only big play he made against one of the best goalies in the league in the NHL. He also beat Vasilevskiy on a nice move late in the second period to give the Kings the lead and score the eventual game-winning goal on the scoreboard in the middle frame.

Kempe really took advantage of the three scoring chances he had in the offensive zone in front of the Lightning goal yesterday in the win in the second period.

"Really, really needed those. When we were a little bit flat at times offensively, Juice is the guy who has shown us that he can come up with big goals. And I thought there were two, both big time goals really highlight real type of goals, both of them, even though one was the shot, just the quickness of the release. You need your goal scorers to score big goals for us, so that’s what got it done there."

Jim Hiller on Adrian Kempe

On the second goal he scored yesterday, Kempe used his speed and skill to skate past the Lightning defenders on the blue line to score the big game-winning goal for the Kings in the game's second period.