LA Kings: Top ten best moments of the 2021 Kings season

While the LA Kings 2021 season didn’t go as most would have hoped, there were still some memorable moments. Here were ten of them.

That’s a wrap on the LA Kings season. Los Angeles finishes with a 21-28-7 record in the 56-game schedule. The results weren’t what everyone wanted, but it was still a fun season nonetheless. We got the opportunity to see some of the young talent that will soon become regular players in the lineup.

Source: Bally Sports West

Jeff Carter was traded, dropping the core five to the core four leftover from the Stanley Cup runs, and it will be interesting to see if that number reduces again over the offseason. It goes without saying, but I’m going to say it anyway. General manager Rob Blake has a lot of work to do this offseason.

The Kings have the cap space, and they have the assets to get some trades done to bring in better talent. It’s arguably the most important offseason in the last decade. Before we can move forward, let’s look back at the top ten best moments of the 2021 season, with an honorable mention at the end (in order by calendar date).

1. Kempe nets game-winner against Colorado

After dropping the first two games of the season against the Wild in heartbreaking fashion, the LA Kings also dropped Game 1 against the preseason Stanley Cup-favorite Colorado Avalanche. The Avs jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period in the series finale. With Los Angeles staring at four losses to start the 2021 campaign, Drew Doughy and Gabe Vilardi evened the score in the middle frame.

Then, with just under four minutes left in regulation, Anze Kopitar fed a backhanded pass on the right side of the net to Adrian Kempe, who buried the puck. The Kings would also get an empty netter from Blake Lizotte. At the time, Kempe’s goal was critical because full-on panic may have ensued if the Kings lost that game.

2. Arthur Kaliyev’s debut and first goal

The 2019 second-round pick made his NHL debut on February 2. The game also marked the debut of the Kings Reverse Retro jerseys, which should have been a bullet point in itself. Those and the Gretzky Heritage jerseys were great to see mixed into the rotation this season.

Back to Arthur Kaliyev.

While the Kings didn’t win the game, Kaliyev’s first goal made it a 2-1 game in favor of Anaheim. Drew Doughty carried the puck through the neutral zone and into the Kings’ attacking zone, dishing the puck to the slot where Arthur Kaliyev crashed the net and buried Michael Amadio’s rebound off Ducks goalie John Gibson.

3. Quick posts shutouts in 2-of-3 starts

Jonathan Quick had an up and down season, but he put together a strong three-game stretch at the end of February. Part of the Kings’ six-game winning streak, Quick made it consecutive wins for Los Angeles with a 4-0 shutout over the Wild. In that contest, the 35-year-old future Hall of Famer stopped all 28 shots.

He made back-to-back starts, stopping 20 of 22 shots against the Coyotes on February 18, as the Kings extended their winning streak to three games with a 3-2 shootout victory.

Four days later, Quick stood on his head again as the Kings stretched their winning streak to five games. The Kings goalie stopped all 31 shots on the road with some fans in attendance at the Enterprise Center. Quick made a couple of big-time saves in that game, most notably Justin Faulk’s blast from the slot with about 45 seconds left in the first period.

4. Matt Luff’s late second-period goal ties game with Blues

Matt Luff recorded just one point in 13 games this season, but the team earned at least a point in nine of those games. He probably deserved a longer look, but that’s a discussion for another day. With the Kings trailing by a goal to the St. Louis Blues back on March 6, Anze Kopitar scanned the ice behind the Blues net.

Luff circled, was fed the puck in the slot, and fired it home with 10.4 seconds remaining in the second period. The Kings would go onto win the game 4-3 in overtime, with Luff’s goal heading into the second intermission giving the team a huge momentum boost.

5. Kempe tallies hat trick against Ducks

Two days later, in what was one of the strangest games of the season, Adrian Kempe scored a goal each period, but the Ducks won the game in overtime. Two of the Swedish forward’s goals tied the game, with the final goal coming with just over two and a half minutes left in regulation. That game was part of a three-game stretch in which Kempe tallied six goals in three contests.

6. Kings dominate Golden Knights in Monday night showdown

The Kings and Golden Knights have developed an intense rivalry in such a short amount of time. Vegas is at one end of the spectrum being, obviously, a very good team, while Los Angeles continues to stick with the rebuild. The Kings went 2-6 against Vegas this season, but perhaps no win was better than that on March 21.

Considering the Kings were coming off a 4-2 loss just two days earlier in what felt like the norm against Vegas, Los Angeles utterly dominated the Golden Knights, jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the second period with goals from Sean Walker and Dustin Brown. Tomas Nosek made it interesting in the third, but Jeff Carter slammed the door with a decisive goal less than a minute later. Despite allowing 42 shots on goal, the Kings were in control the entire game.

It felt like a game that the Kings could use to springboard off to gain some momentum, but that never happened as they would go onto lose their next three.

7. Fans return to STAPLES Center

A limited number of fans were allowed back into STAPLES Center on April 20, after over a year of playing in front of an empty stadium. The Kings were feeling it against their rivals in the Anaheim Ducks, with Athanasiou and Lizotte each tallying three points. Los Angeles jumped out to a 4-0 lead before Cam Fowler responded with a late goal for Anaheim. Still, for the 1,431 people in the stands, it made a drastic difference for the play on the ice.

“These last three months when we haven’t had fans, it’s a different atmosphere and a different play style, and it’s just not as exciting, so I’m absolutely thrilled to have our fans back and providing energy for us,” Lizotte said via NHL.com. “Seriously, it makes a huge difference, and [I] absolutely love having them back, so that was great tonight.”

8. Quinton Byfield’s debut

It was the moment that LA Kings fans and Quinton Byfield had been waiting for since they heard his name called with the second-overall pick in the 2020 NHL Draft. The 18-year-old future number-one center made his debut. He was the sixth-youngest player to make his debut for the Kings.

I specifically remember watching Byfield hopping over the boards for his first NHL shift, and you could hear a roar from the Kings bench in support. It’s something that I will never forget, nor will Quinton.

The Newmarket, Ontario native looked comfortable in his first game. He had a couple of turnovers, which was to be expected, but the Kings trusted him enough to try to get the puck on his stick in the waning seconds of the third period with the Kings trailing 3-2. For the most part, Byfield looked good in his six games, and he’s expected to be a full-timer next season.

9. Kings score two goals in five minutes to beat Ducks

A lot of Kings-Ducks moments on this list. Closing out the month of April, there was no shortage of excitement between the two teams. The Ducks sporting their orange jerseys and the Kings in their Gretzky era heritage jerseys, Haydn Fleury opened the scoring for Anaheim just over five-and-a-half minutes into the first period.

It looked like the Kings were well on their way to being shutout, but Lias Andersson‘s goal with just under five minutes to play lit a fire in the Kings. Anze Kopitar scored with 56 seconds remaining in regulation on a beautiful play toward the net, in what looked eerily similar to his Game 7 winner against the Sharks in 2014.