The Los Angeles Kings' (1-3-2) comeback effort fell short in the third period and overtime on Saturday night (Oct. 18) against the Carolina Hurricanes (5-0-0) and head coach Rod Brind'Amour in a 4-3 overtime loss. In the game's first minute, the Kings and head coach Jim Hiller found themselves down on the scoreboard early after Jordan Staal scored a goal just 12 seconds into the opening frame.
Anton Forsberg and the Los Angeles Kings can't complete the comeback effort in a 4-3 loss in overtime to the Carolina Hurricanes
Yesterday was the third-fastest goal ever scored against the Kings in the first period in franchise history.
Carolina continued to pile on the Kings on the scoreboard early in the second period and late in the first frame last night. Staal scored another, and Jesperi Kotkaniemi netted a goal for the Canes to put them up by a comfortable 3-0 margin on the scoreboard early in the second period last night.
Trevor Moore gave the Kings some energy on the ice last night, getting his second goal of the season early in the second period to cut the Canes' lead to 3-1.
Andrei Kuzmenko converted on the power play on special teams to cut the Canes lead to just one goal, by a score of 3-2 in the second period.
Killing off another couple of power plays from the Kings' special teams unit gave the team momentum down the stretch and eventually tie things up in the third period thanks to Kevin Fiala's fourth goal of the regular season.
Adrian Kempe played a key role in getting the Kings back even in this game. He registered assists on the game-tying and the Kings' second goal of the game to respond after he took an untimely penalty late in the first period.
Unfortunately, the Kings couldn't put the puck in the net in overtime in a few minutes. The Kings had trouble getting any puck possession for most of overtime.
Here are three takeaways from the Kings' 4-3 overtime loss vs. the Hurricanes at Crypto Arena on Oct. 18.
Anton Forsberg's play in net gave the Kings the opportunity to form the comeback
I thought this was the best start of the season for Anton Forsberg last night against the Canes. He registered a season-high 36 saves and had double-digit saves against high-danger scoring chances for the first time early this regular season (per Natural Stat Trick).
Despite the Kings being down 3-0 on the scoreboard in the second period vs. the Hurricanes last night, LA did not give up in the third period. The Kings rattled off three straight goals
It was huge for Forsberg and the Kings to come up with multiple saves, including two against high-danger scoring chances, and kill off a key 5-on-3 advantage for the Canes in the second period.
Forsberg made big saves down the stretch in this game in the third period, including stopping double-digit shots on goal from the Canes to allow the Kings to make the comeback on the scoreboard.
Kings suffer another slow start
Hiller and the Kings have suffered every game early this regular season to play a complete 60-minute effort on the ice against some good teams from the Western Conference. Regardless if it's too many discipline issues on special teams on the penalty kill, letting multi-goal leads go in the second or third period, and/or getting off to slow starts, the Kings have found many ways to lose games early this regular season.
Besides the loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins this past Thursday night at home (Oct. 16), the Kings have not done well in the opening frame in the first period this fall. The Kings have a -4 goal differential in the first half of games early this regular season.
Playing up and down to the competition
It doesn't matter who the Kings have played early this regular season this fall, the Kings have fought until the very end. The Kings have played pretty much every game within one goal on the scoreboard until late in the third period since the home opener loss to Colorado a couple of weeks ago.
The Kings fought until the very end of this game against Carolina, despite not having center Anze Kopitar and goalie Darcy Kuemper healthy and in the lineup last night.
I thought Kempe and Fiala have really stepped it up lately. In the past four games, Kempe and Fiala have both registered at least two goals and three totla points for the Kings.
But giving up too many easy passing lanes and odd-man rushes to the defensive zone on that end of the ice and not converting in the offensive zone around the net has kept the Kings from consistently winning games and coming away with two points early this regular season.