The Los Angeles Kings have had a pretty successful season to date but one thing that has eluded them to this point is an overtime win. Entering Tuesday night, the Kings have had three overtime games that have all ended in losses, including a shootout loss to the Chicago Blackhawks.
They would add to that total as Richard Rakell would redirect Erik Karlsson's pass past Darcy Kuemper in the extra period. However, the Kings feel like this game shouldn't have even gotten to overtime after they had a 2-1 lead heading into the third period.
After the game, Jim Hiller had this to say about the third period according to Zach Dooley:
"We just weren’t sharp. I don’t know what the right word is, for m[e] it’s sharp. We just weren’t executing, puck was bouncing on us. We still had some chances in the third to score ourselves, maybe to get a two-goal lead at some point. Again, we just weren’t sharp on those chances, just like we were sharp in our own end."
The Kings got on the board early, in fact, it was only 33 seconds into the game after Anze Kopitar set up Adrian Kempe for the first goal of the game. In the second period, the Penguins would tie it up off a goal by Evgeni Malkin before Alex Turcotte gave Los Angeles the lead back on a breakaway goal.
It would be pretty much all Pittsburgh for the rest of the game as Matt Grzelcyk would tie it up off an excellent pass by Sidney Crosby.
While Darcy Kuemper did give up three goals, it could have been a lot worse as Kuemper had to make some big saves on tough shots from Penguins.
Los Angeles Kings have an overtime problem dating back to last season
The Kings struggles in overtime are not anything new for this team and as Russell Morgan notes, they are now 7-15 dating back to last season including the 0-4 this season. This was their first overtime game since November 2nd when they lost in a shootout to the Chicago Blackhawks.
Kings record in overtime/shootouts is now 7-15 going back to last season.
— Russell Morgan (@NHLRussell) December 18, 2024
That’s a lot of missed points.
If there is a silver lining, the Kings have lost three of their four overtime games on the road so the fact that they come away with at least one point in those games is a positive. The Kings will look to regroup as they continue on their road trip with a game against the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday.