While there aren't such things as positive results necessarily from a loss in the standings in the West for the Los Angeles Kings (16-13-9) and head coach Jim Hiller this regular season, the team did hang tight and compete with the Colorado Avalanche (29-2-7) on the road yesterday on Monday night (Dec. 29) in Denver.
Joel Armia gives the Los Angeles Kings late momentum on special teams on the road in a loss to the Colorado Avalanche
The Kings were competitive and physical with the Avalanche last night on the road at Ball Arena in the West. This team didn't look physically outmatched and held their own on both ends of the ice on the road yesterday in Colorado against the Avs at Ball Arena.
Even though the Kings kept pace physically and in the advanced metrics and box score stats yesterday, the Avalanche took advantage of more untimely defensive zone turnovers in their own zone and had more timely opportunities than LA.
The Kings showed up ready to play in the game's first period in the opening frame yesterday night. LA outshot and had more scoring chances than the Avalanche on the road in the game's first period in the opening frame yesterday in the first 10 minutes on the scoreboard and on the stat sheet.
This team showed up with Alex Laferriere and Anze Kopitar ready to compete and play physically on both sides of the ice on the road vs. Colorado yesterday. The Kings looked like the team was ready to build momentum on the ice after the win over Anaheim this past weekend on Saturday night by a score of 6-1.
An untimely turnover from the Kings on a bad pass by veteran defenseman Drew Doughty allowed the Avalanche to draw first blood in the opening frame yesterday. The Kings responded by getting more high-danger scoring chances and putting more pressure offensively on Avalanche goalie Mackenzie Blackwood in the zone.
Forward Corey Perry evened up the score on the scoreboard yesterday in the game's second period in the middle frame on special teams on the power play on the 5-on-4 man advantage.
The Kings skated tough with the Avalanche on the ice on the road in the game's second period in the middle frame, making some nice plays to draw penalties to get on special teams on the power play yesterday.
Colorado harnessed the momentum on the ice in the middle frame in the second period on a goal by Martin Necas with dominant zone time offensively to give the Avalanche the lead back by a one-goal margin in the offensive zone.
The Kings and Avalanche traded blows late in the middle frame in the second period and early in the final frame yesterday. Forward Joel Armia gave the Kings some hope late in the game in the third period in the final frame with a nice shorthanded goal on special teams to cut the Avs' lead on the scoreboard to one goal.
Colorado scored two more goals late in the game in the final frame to seal the 5-2 win over the Kings yesterday night. A combination of opportunities on special teams and costly defensive-zone turnovers yesterday caused the loss for Hiller's group in the West in Denver.
This loss prevents the Kings from building a two-game winning streak in the West in the standings in the Pacific Division late this month before the turn of the calendar year from 2025 to 2026 later this week.
The Avalanche didn't have a single loss in the standings in regulation on home ice at Ball Arena in Denver this regular season.
Here are three takeaways from the Kings' competitive loss to the Avalanche on the road in Denver, by a score of 5-2, on Dec. 29.
Joel Armia shines on the penalty kill on special teams for the Kings
LA and Armia pushed back in a big way on the ice and on the scoreboard in the game's final frame in the third period yesterday in Colorado. The Kings got an exciting shorthanded goal on special teams on the penalty kill from Armia yesterday night in clutch time in the game's third period to close the gap to just one goal on the scoreboard.
"That's what it usually is like. When you get a chance, you need to just bear down and score goals, and I feel like if we put couple of those in the whole game is different."Joel Armia
Armia was the reason that the Kings had some momentum and reason to believe they could win the game on the scoreboard late in the third period in the final frame yesterday vs. Colorado. He was also a big part of the reason why the Kings were the better team on special teams yesterday vs. Colorado on the road.
Game gets away from the Kings late in the third period in clutch time
Whenever the Kings have over 15 giveaways and nearly double-digit defensive zone and neutral zone turnovers at even strength at 5-on-5 against the best team in the league in the NHL this regular season in the West vs. the Avs, it's going to be tough to beat the best defensive team this campaign in Colorado.
Holding the Avs to just single-digit high-danger scoring chances and going a perfect 4-for-4 on special teams on the penalty kill on 5-on-4 is a solid outing for the Kings defensively yesterday (per Natural Stat Trick).
"The big point was Kempe’s shorthanded breakaway, I think that would have made it 2-2 at that point. That was a big save by their goaltender there. We had a bunch of other looks. Right out of the gate, Kevin hits him in the head. I mean, you come into this building, you don’t want their goalie to be a star, you want your goalie to be a star and you want to be able to find the back of the net. We were +2 on special teams, the effort was excellent."Jim Hiller
The Kings were arguably the better team on the ice and on the stat sheet in the game's opening frame in the first period and in the final frame in clutch time in the third period. Hiller's group had more scoring chances and high-danger scoring chances in the game's first period in the opening frame
I have to give credit where credit is due; Hiller and the Kings scored a goal on special teams on the power play against the league's best penalty kill in the NHL this campaign. It would be nice to see the Kings take advantage and score another special teams goal on the power play to harness more momentum on the ice and on the scoreboard yesterday.
This isn't the worse loss for the Kings in the West
In this past weekend for the Kings, the team beat the Ducks from Anaheim in a dominant 6-1 win offensively on home ice. It was a huge win for the Kings that was the best performance in the offensive zone scoring the puck that we've seen from this team in the past few weeks in mid-to-late December in the West.
While there isn't really a moral reckoning from this game or a positive victory for the team in the loss to the Avs on the road yesterday night in Denver, I don't think this was absolutely the worst performance for the team in the West.
"If we weren’t playing well, obviously that would have been a bigger issue. Defensively, we’re still doing the right things, checking wise, effort wise, I think we’re still doing the right things. I think that’s the most important thing, that we’re still relying on our identity, all that kind of stuff. Hopefully the goals will start coming."Adrian Kempe
Had forward Adrian Kempe scored on the breakaway on the rush on special teams on the penalty kill yesterday in the game's second period in the middle frame for the team, the Kings probably would've had a different result on the scoreboard last night.