The Kings concluded their five-game road trip with their first back-to-back set of the season in New York City against the New York Rangers and the next night in Chicago against the Chicago Blackhawks. The injury bug has bitten Mats Zuccarello for the second time this season, but Quinton Byfield returned after missing the past two games.
Against the Rangers, the Kings got on the board first with Taylor Ward scoring his first goal of the season, which was also his season debut one minute and fifteen seconds into the game. About five minutes later, the Kings went up 2-0 with Brandt Clarke scoring his third goal of the season. The Rangers then got on the board with seven minutes remaining in the period when J.T. Miller scored his fourth goal of the season. The Kings went up 3-1 with three minutes remaining in the period when new captain and defenseman Drew Doughty scored his first goal of the season.
The Kings continued to dominate in the second period when Artemi Panarin scored his team-leading seventh goal on the powerplay, with assists by Erik Gustafsson and Alex Laferriere. The Kings then went up 5-1 when defenseman Mikey Anderson scored his first goal of the season. The Kings thought they went up 6-1 when Clarke scored his second of the night, but it was disallowed due to goalie interference. The Rangers got within three goals when defenseman Adam Fox scored his first goal of the season.
New York then got within two goals when Tye Kartye scored his fourth goal of the season with four minutes remaining in the game. The Rangers pulled their goalie, but 30 second later, a 6-3 victory was sealed for the Kings when Joel Edmundson scored his first goal of the season via an empty-netter. The goal was assisted by Drew Doughty and Alex Laferriere. Douhgty’s assist earned him his 713 point, surpassing Kings legend Dustin Brown. In addition, Laferriere’s two assists, not only gave him the team-lead with seven assists, but it was 250th game as a King. Four of the Kings goals were scored by defensemen (Anderson, Clarke, Doughty, and Edmundson). This was only the third time in Kings history with four defensemen scoring in a game, the other two March 17, 2007 and January 17, 1986. The victory gave the Kings a 3-1 record in the road trip.
The Kings concluded their road trip in Chicago the next night missing more key players, Drew Doughty (injury) and Corey Perry (healthy scratch). The Kings got on the board first when Samuel Helenius scored his first goal of the season almost three minutes into the game. The remainder of the period went back-and-forth with no team gaining a clear advantage. The period ended with the Kings holding onto a 1-0 lead. Unfortunately, this was the lone goal of the game for the Kings.
In addition, the Kings are struggling on special teams, especially on the penalty kill. Joel Armia got called for a tripping penalty, which the Kings killed. However, while Armia was exiting the penalty box with his foot still in it, he touched the puck and was called for an interference penalty. On the ensuing power play, the Blackhawks tied things up when rookie Roman Kantserov scored his fifth goal of the season, ending the second period at one-all.
The Kings came out looking a little tired in the third period and Chicago took advantage when Wyatt Kaiser scored his fifth goal of the season a little over seven minutes into the period. The Kings had a few more chances, but couldn’t capitalize even when they pulled the goalie with just over a minute left. The Blackhawks secured a 2-1 win, giving the Kings a 3-2 record to end the road trip.
The Kings now return to Los Angeles to begin a seven-game homestand with games spanning from Oct 29 until Nov. 14.
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