The home struggles continue for LA Kings down the stretch

The Los Angeles Kings have returned to Crypto.com Arena for a seven-game homestand, which is their final home games of the regular season.

Anze Kopitar and the Los Angeles Kings have seven games left, including a remaining homestand for four games this upcoming week in the West this regular season

The first game of the homestand on March 28 began against the Mammoth. Unfortunately for the Kings, Utah struck first less than three minutes into the game with Alexander Kerfoot scoring his fourth goal of the season on a tip-in. The Mammoth continued to dominate the period when Logan Cooley scored his 19th goal of the season, giving them a 2-0 lead.

The Kings finally got on the board with two minutes left in the period when Anze Kopitar scored his 12th goal of the season. With less than 10 seconds remaining in the period, Cooley scored his second goal of the night and gave Utah a 3-1 lead.

It was a brutal end to the first period with the Kings looking flat-footed. In the second period, the Mammoth kept the momentum going with Kerfoot scoring his second goal of the night, giving them a 4-1 lead. Later, in the same period, Nick Schmaltz scored his 27th goal of the season on the power play and gave Utah a 5-1 lead at the end of the period.

At the start of the third period, Kings interim Head Coach D.J. Smith replaced Darcy Kuemper with Anton Forsberg, trying to spark the team. The Kings narrowed the gap to three goals when Adrian Kempe scored his team-leading 27th goal of the season. That would be as close as the Kings would get. A 6-2 victory was sealed for the Mammoth when Jack McBain scored on an empty-netter. It was a tough start to the homestand with the Kings looking sluggish during the whole game. 

The Kings welcomed a new month with a game against the St. Louis Blues on April 1. The Kings came out in the first period with high energy. Both teams played tough defense, and the period ended in a scoreless tie.

The second period started the same way and remained scoreless until Adrian Kempe broke the tie with his team-leading 28th goal of the season, on the power play. The period ended with the Kings holding onto a 1-0 lead. 

The third period was a neutral zone battle until Robert Thomas tied the game with his 17th goal of the season with less than four minutes left. Regulation ended in a one-all tie, forcing another overtime session for the Kings.

This was the Kings' 29th game of the season to go into overtime, an NHL record. The Kings eventually won with Trevor Moore scoring the game-winner, his 11th of the season and his first career overtime goal. The victory earned the Kings a much-needed two points in their hunt for the second wild card in the Western Conference. 

The Kings looked to gain some more momentum the next night against the Nashville Predators. Unfortunately, Nashville struck first 52 seconds into the game when Filip Forsberg scored his 35th goal of the season.  Only four minutes later, the Predators scored again when Zachary L’Heureux got his third goal of the season. The period ended with Nashville holding a 2-0 lead. The Predators continued to dominate in the second period, with the Kings looking tired.

Nashville went up 3-0  barely two minutes into the period when Jonathan Marchessault scored his 12th goal of the season. The Kings woke up four minutes later with Adrian Kempe scoring his team-leading 29th goal of the season. Just a few minutes later, the Predators went up three goals again with Steven Stamkos scoring his 37th of the season.

About five minutes later, the Kings cut the lead in half with Kempe scoring his second goal of the night, which seemed to energize them and the crowd. Just two minutes later, the Kings got within one when Scott Laughton scored his 12th goal of the season. The period ended with the Kings down one, but they were carrying momentum into the third period on Legacy Night for Anze Kopitar. Halfway through the third period, the Kings tied the game at four-all when Joel Armia scored his 11th goal of the season. The remainder of the period was a tough defensive battle, with regulation ending with a 4-4 tie.

This would be the Kings' 30th game of the season to go into overtime, extending this unfortunate NHL record. The game was not decided in overtime, however, with Nashville having two shots and the Kings only having one, resulting in a shootout. The Predators ultimately won in the eighth round of the shootout when Luke Evangelista scored the game-winner. Unfortunately, this was also the Kings' 19th overtime loss of the season, another NHL record that the Kings do not want. A 1-1-1 record for the first three games of the homestand is not what the Kings need. 

Their next four home games will be critical in the wild card race in the West.