Dud: Jeff Malott, F
Jeff Malott scored a goal before defenseman Drew Doughty to extend the Kings' lead in the second period yesterday to multiple goals (2-0) on the scoreboard. He fired a shot past Askarov to beat him to the near side.
The Kings had some old ailments that continued to hurt the team yesterday. Discipline issues, lapses in defensive coverage, and back and forth play in the offensive zone hurt Malott and the Kings against the Sharks and nearly cost the team a win in the division this fall.
LA is taking too many penalties. In the game's first period alone, the Kings took two bad penalties. Malott had a slashing penalty on a slashing call in the middle of the first period in the opening frame. The Kings' penalty kill held together to keep the team's lead intact going into the first intermission yesterday.
The Kings had trouble establishing a rhythm in the offensive zone around the net last night vs. the Sharks.
Malott took a costly penalty early in the third period in the offensive zone. A couple of minutes later, the Sharks converted on that opportunity to tie the game up on the scoreboard for the first time since early in the game in the first period.
This past week, the Kings gave up a goal on the penalty kill on special teams when Malott took a minor penalty in the game's second period against the Dallas Stars on the road on Oct. 23.
This was the only game on the road trip in the three games Malott played in the past week for the Kings with the fourth-line forward group that he played fewer than eight minutes on the ice for Hiller and staff.