Their loss on Monday night can be partially attributed to a lack of rest, but in hopes of salvaging their series against the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday night, the LA Kings were unsuccessful. After being edged by a 2-1 count on Monday, the LA Kings lost 4-2 in San Jose on Wednesday, closing out a very disappointing series. As a result, the silver-and-black have not made up any ground on their chase for the playoffs and will now have to wait until Monday night to play again.
Following Wednesday’s defeat, LA Kings defenseman Drew Doughty spoke with the media, beginning with how his club’s momentum was stripped away early in the third thanks to two quick San Jose goals.
“Definitely a little bit deflating,” Doughty said. “I mean, we kind of had momentum going into the third, but in the second, we gave up way too many odd-man rushes, so we were pretty disappointed in ourselves about that.
“But yeah, giving up two– the first one was pretty lucky. No one knew where the puck was — we thought it went out of play. And then you know, they get the third goal and then the other one, you know, we just got to make a better play, but it’s definitely deflating. That can’t happen in any period, let alone the third.”
After a scoreless first period, the Sharks jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second. Alex Iafallo gave the LA Kings hope, and a surge in momentum, late in the frame, though, when he scored with just 13 seconds remaining to make it 2-1. All hope for any new sense of momentum, however, was quickly dashed.
Just 21 seconds into the third, Evander Kane scored his second of the evening to regain San Jose’s two-goal lead before Tomas Hertl made it 4-1 just 82 seconds later. Adrian Kempe scored a few minutes later — assisted by Doughty and Gabe Vilardi — but it was much too little, way too late as the LA Kings, coming off a huge win on Sunday vs. Vegas, lost the second of two crucial games in San Jose. This was partially due to some four-on-two opportunities the LA Kings surrendered as Doughty noted post-game.
“We have to do a better job,” the matter-of-fact LA Kings defenseman added. “We can’t allow a four-on-two rush, that’s for sure, but at the same time, we were trying to get a chance. Me and Mikey , it’s tough to play a four-on-two where we’d like to, kind of, have that one back, maybe play it a little differently to give Cal a better chance. Personally, I thought I played a really good game tonight. I felt good and I was trying to get us back in the game. I mean, it helps that I look a lot better out there when the other teams sitting back with a 4-1 lead, so that played a part in it.”
Overall, the LA Kings have their work cut out for them moving forward, and these past two games did not do them any favors.
“Yeah, it’s disappointing for sure,” Doughty noted. “San Jose’s a good team. I believe we can win every game but this was a series, before we started, I really believed we could win. I believe that we could play them and we did at times, but we just didn’t get the job done.”
The LA Kings have had a tendency to play better hockey against those teams sitting higher in the West Division. While that is promising, the club has had a tendency to let their proverbial foot off the gas when playing teams sitting lower than them in the standings. The LA Kings’ most recent series in San Jose is a prime example of that and it is a trend that needs to change.
“We seem to kind of hang around and play better when we’re playing kind of the teams at the top of our division, which is not a good thing,” Doughty said. “We need to win these games […] and again, no disrespect to San Jose, just their team that I think it’s more equal to us than a team like Colorado to Vegas.”
Overall, their trip to San Jose was not something the LA Kings want to remember. At the same time, the team does need to look back on this series and learn from it should they have any chance of competing for a playoff spot, much less making the postseason.
They will have time to rest and time to reflect, but the schedule only gets tougher for the LA KIngs as they next travel to Vegas to take on a difficult Golden Knights squad.