With the roster more in focus for the projected lineup for the Los Angeles Kings (4-2-0) for this upcoming regular season, head coach Jim Hiller and his squad faced the Utah Mammoth (1-4-1) for the second time in the past three days late this week.
Quinton Byfield and the Los Angeles Kings drop a preseason contest on the road to the Utah Mammoth
The Mammoth jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first period thanks to a goal from Kevin Stenlund over 15 minutes into the opening frame of this game.
But the Kings kept the pressure up and eventually got a goal to even up the game on the scoreboard in the second period, on a nice goal from the slot by forward Alex Turcotte. Forward Samuel Helenius registered his first assist of the preseason on the game-tying goal in the second period from Turcotte.
Almost as quickly as the Kings tied the game in the second, the Mammoth snagged the lead back on the scoreboard on a quick goal from Lawson Crouse just over six minutes into the second frame.
The Kings got over two dozen shots on goal against Utah's Vitek Vanacek in goal for the Mammoth tonight. But the Kings couldn't crack him except for Turcotte's goal early in the second period for the LA offense.
Tonight was a case of the Kings running into a hot goalie against Vanacek and the Mammoth in Utah. Vanacek stopped double-digit scoring chances from the Kings tonight, including over a half dozen shots from the LA power play unit.
Vanacek and the Mammoth held off a late rally from the Kings for the close 2-1 win for Utah's first win of the preseason. The Mammoth goalie was a monster tonight, stopping 32 of 33 shots from the Kings' offense.
Here are three takeaways from the Kings' 2-1 loss to the Mammoth at the Delta Center on Oct. 2.
Kings' fans get a look at the projected opening-night roster next week
Earlier in the week on Wednesday (Oct. 1), the Kings assigned over 20 players to the Ontario Reign in the AHL for training camp this fall, cutting down the projected opening-night roster for the upcoming regular season to roughly two dozen in the lineup tonight.
Tonight's lineup for the Kings was the closest we've gotten to seeing what the opening-night roster could look like, including the high-powered top forward line and power play special teams unit of center Anze Kopitar, winger Adrian Kempe, and winger Andrei Kuzmenko.
The puck movement and chemistry between Kopitar, Kempe, and Kuzmenko looked pretty good tonight, despite them not converting on a couple of power play opportunities on special teams against Utah.
"The unit is the exact same one that we finished off last year, and in the playoffs, our percentage was pretty good, you know, that was last year, this is this year, so we got to work on it a little bit more."Anze Kopitar
The Kings' defensive unit also looked pretty good tonight, even without Kyle Burroughs and Joel Edmundson in the lineup after they missed practice on Wednesday.
Power play held scoreless vs. the Mammoth
For the second time in the past three games, the Kings had trouble getting on the scoreboard with the special teams unit on the power play. The Kings were held 0-for-3 on the power play by a good Mammoth penalty kill, including two killed penalties at critical junctures of this game in the second period when LA could've harnessed more momentum in the middle of the contest.
Vanacek was the Mammoth's best penalty-killer tonight in net. He looked calm and collected in the crease for the Mammoth for the entire 60 minutes against the Kings, including in clutch time late in the third period when LA had the goalie pulled to get the 6-on-5 advantage on the ice.
He stopped nine high-danger scoring chances from the Kings tonight (per Natural Stat Trick).
Quinton Byfield looks sharp for the Kings' second forward unit at the center position
A bright spot for the Kings tonight in the loss to the Mammoth was the play of standout young center Quinton Byfield. Not only was Byfield solid handling the puck tonight on his stick, but he was also consistent and dominant in the faceoff circle for the Kings in the offensive zone and on the power play.
Byfield won 10-of-13 faceoffs, including a few key faceoff wins on the power play in the offensive zone against the Mammoth.
This was the second straight preseason game this fall that Byfield registered multiple scoring chances and helped to generate at least one high-danger scoring chance for the Kings.
Byfield showed this fall in training camp and the preseason that he's ready for a big season this upcoming year in the West for the Kings at the center position with the second forward line.