Last night was the first game in the West for the Los Angeles Kings (24-22-14) with new interim head coach DJ Smith on home ice at Crypto.com Arena against the No. 1 team in the Central Division, the Colorado Avalanche (40-10-9). Smith and the Kings fell short of the Avalanche on Monday night (March 2) by a score of 4-2 on the scoreboard.
DJ Smith and the Los Angeles Kings show fight in a 4-2 loss to Colorado on home ice on Monday night
Colorado notched its 40th win of this regular season in the standings in the West in the Central Division yesterday vs. the Kings, and it inched the Avs closer to 100 total points.
The type of effort that Smith and the Kings showed on the ice yesterday vs. Colorado will yield better results in the standings in the West in the Pacific Division this regular season than we saw vs. the Avs early this week.
I didn't think that the scoreboard was necessarily a great indicator of how much the Kings fought on both ends of the ice yesterday night on home ice for Smith and the coaching staff on Monday vs. Colorado. Despite the Kings' team being shorthanded in the active roster lineup yesterday vs. Colorado on home ice, the team stayed in the game on the scoreboard in the opening frame in the first period and in the middle frame.
Here are takeaways from the Kings' 4-2 loss against the Avalanche in the first game under Smith as the new interim head coach on home ice at Crypto.com Arena on March 2.
Young players in the active roster lineup nearly helps the Kings push the Avs past the brink
Three players in the active roster lineup for the Kings yesterday vs. Colorado in the West were AHL players who made their debuts in the league in the NHL early this week. Forwards Jared Wright and Kenny Connors and defenseman Angus Booth made a big impact on the game on both ends of the ice yesterday.
All three players who made their debuts in the active roster lineup in the league in the NHL for the Kings yesterday vs. Colorado in the West had spent the entire span of this regular season with the AHL minor league affiliate as teammates on the Ontario Reign.
"What we wanted to establish is a sense of work ethic, a sense of physicality, a sense of we’re not going to sit back, we’re going to come get you. I think we did all those things tonight. So, you need the points for sure, but at this point, you can’t fault the effort, and we’re going to need that every game."DJ Smith
The fact that the Kings had some younger legs in the active roster lineup seemed to give the core forward lines group and the defensive group on the blue line an added boost and more energy on the ice yesterday on home ice vs. Colorado.
"It was a good read by him, finding open ice, especially with we had a couple guys high already, so it was good for him to slide down and find that back post. I thought he played really well tonight. He was poised with the puck, didn’t just throw it away, I was impressed by him."Brian Dumoulin on Angus Booth
Smith juggled the lines some, which helped to produce some added pressure on both ends of the ice for the Kings yesterday on Monday. The Kings also got a couple of goals from extra offensive pressure, scoring the puck in the zone yesterday.
Booth registered his first career goal in the league in the NHL vs. Colorado on a deflection goal in front of the net in front of Avs goalie Mackenzie Blackwood. The Kings could rely on Booth for contributions and an impact on the game yesterday from the blue line on defense in his debut in the active roster lineup for Smith and staff.
Kings worked hard for Smith last night vs. Colorado on the ice
Between the play that the Kings got defensively on the blue line and from Anton Forsberg in goal, this game was probably closer than it should've been in the middle frame in the second period and in the final frame yesterday on home ice. The Avs had double-digit high-danger scoring chances nearly tripled the Kings' scoring opportunities offensively yesterday at Crypto.com Arena (per Natural Stat Trick).
"The goal is obviously to win. I mean, that’s the best team in the league and they’re 100 percent healthy and they’re coming in here, playing as good as they’ve played all year. Our job was, we weren’t going to just sit back and let them take it to us. Now, it didn’t look good early. We made some mistakes, we gave up too many odd man rushes, but what you saw from that group is a real effort to forecheck, a real effort to get pucks back, to hunt, to hit people and you’re going to see that the rest of the way."Smith
Even though the Kings fell behind by two goals on the scoreboard yesterday on home ice vs. the Avs in the West, Smith and the coaching staff got the most out of the adjustments they made to the active roster lineup with the core forward lines group.