The Los Angeles Kings left their game Monday night against the San Jose Sharks with more question than answers after giving up five goals in the third and losing 7-2. They didn't have much time to find those answers but Jim Hiller tried his best to find lines that could jump start the offense.
The Jets entered this game as the best team in NHL in terms of points and the Kings clearly understood the challenge in front of them. They didn't waste much time and were able to get a goal in the first two minutes of the game.
An early lead against the Jets is great but the fact that it came on the power play was even better. The Jets were called for slashing and on the opening faceoff of the power play Anze Kopitar was able to win it and pass it back to Adrian Kempe.
Kopitar and Quinton Byfield rolled towards the front of the net and it would be Kopitar who could deflect the puck past Connor Hellebuyck for the first goal of the game.
Anze Kopitar is so good at hockey pic.twitter.com/HRN4YXa3QX
— LA Kings (@LAKings) November 28, 2024
Los Angeles Kings have been one of the worst in the NHL on the power play
The power play has not been very productive for the Los Angeles Kings this season as they ranked 28th entering Wednesday with a power play percentage of only 15.2%. However, the Kings now have two power play goals in the past three games so maybe this is something that might be turning around.
For Anze Kopitar, this is his second power play of the season but his first since the regular season opener when he scored a power play goal as part of his hat trick against the Buffalo Sabres.
The early returns of the changes by Jim Hiller have been really positive and it will be interesting to see if the Kings can keep this up for the remainder of the game.