Los Angeles Kings: The Weekly Report
By Brook Smith
The Kings are off to one of their better starts in franchise history, with a 10-2-2 record over their first 14 games. This past week, the team hit their first rough patch of the season.
The Kings are off to a fantastic start this season, with ten wins already. The next closest team to them in the Pacific Division is the Las Vegas Golden Knights, with a 9-4-0 record. While they have been an incredibly exciting ream to watch over the first few weeks, the Kings came back down to earth this week. In just three games played since last Monday, the Kings dropped two. But there are a few bright spots in these losses.
The first loss came against the St Louis Blues last Monday night. The Blues came out firing, scoring 4 goals and unleashing 29 shots on Jonathan Quick. But the upside to this loss is that the Blues are the second best team in the NHL, and Los Angeles hung right there with them for most of the game. A few other bright spots were where their productions came from throughout the game. Some of their established veterans kept them in the came, either by way of goal or assist. Dustin Brown and Tanner Pearson each scored a goal, while Kopitar and Doughty each had an assist. It’s good to see those core guys contributing early on.
The Second game came against Toronto, and the Kings won that game with ease 5-3. This game was interesting, in that it saw a whole lot of production coming from all over the roster. Michael Cammalleri scored his third goal of the season, and he also had an assist. Trevor Lewis scored a goal of his own, and Michael Amadio scored his very first goal of his young career. Tyler Toffoli added to his great season by putting up two more goals, now with seven on the season.
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The final game of the week was a thriller, as they dropped one to Nashville at home in overtime. Los Angeles was down 3-0 entering the third period, but they rallied to come back and force an overtime. Alex Iafallo kicked off the scoring, with his first career goal just 16 seconds into the third period. Christian Folin would follow that up with his first goal as a King, at a little over 5 minutes into the period. Alec Martinez followed up with a power play goal with just under 8 minutes left in the period. A flurry of missed and saved shots by both sides then sent the game to overtime, where Nashville out the game away with 20 seconds remaining.
Looking Ahead: The Kings will face Anaheim on Tuesday night, the first time they meet this season. The Ducks are 6-6-2 on the season, and have allowed 43 goals already. After that, the Kings will be back at home facing them best team in the league in the Tampa Bay Lightning. Tampa Bay has scored the most points in the entire league at 59.