The Los Angeles Kings kicked off the 2024-25 preseason on Monday by taking on the Utah Hockey Club in their first game in Utah.
It was an electric atmosphere that allowed both teams to get into the game quickly.
After Jack Studnicka crushed Connor Ingram on a powerful shot toward the net, a pair of fights broke out between Liam O’Brien and Jeff Malott, and Travis Barron and Studnicka respectively.
But it wasn’t all a brawl in the first quarter, as Lawson Crouse and Alex Kerfoot both scored power-play goals to give Utah a 2-0 lead in the first half.
After a slow start to the second period, the Kings then responded through Malott and a power-play goal from Alex Turcotte to tie the game.
The game remained tied until the third period, during which both teams switched goaltenders, giving Kings fans their first glimpse of Carter George in NHL action.
That took the game into overtime where Clayton Keller finished things off just 19 seconds into the game after a mistake by George and Brandt Clarke gave him a great opportunity.
After the match, the teams had a five-round penalty shootout which the Kings also lost, with Taylor Ward scoring the Kings’ only goal.
George was beaten twice during the shootout.
Overall, this Kings team, largely comprised of Reign players and prospects, can hold their heads high after a strong performance in Utah.
Utah fielded a much more powerful team, including some of its best players like Keller, Crouse, Nick Schmaltz and Mikhail Sergachev.
The Kings’ best players were Alex Turcotte, Akil Thomas, Trevor Lewis and Brandt Clarke.
You can never learn too much from a preseason game, but the Kings team that showed up pushed an NHL team to overtime and that’s impressive.
It was also a good performance from Erik Portillo who was not at fault on either power play goal and made some big saves.
His first attempts against NHL competition looked promising.
