THE Los Angeles Kings (23-19-14) barely had time to breathe tonight at T-Mobile Arena before the Vegas Golden Knights (27-16-14) had already put the match out of reach.
Vegas had already scored four first-period goals by the fifth minute of this game, riding its explosive start to a 4-1 win over the Kings. Adin Hill made 32 saves, while Mark Stone, Mitch Marner, Jack Eichel and Pavel Dorofoyev each scored a goal, powering the Kings’ offense.
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The Kings’ back-to-back losses heading into the break are among their ugliest performances all season after facing two crucial Western Conference opponents for a chance to advance in the Pacific Division.
Collapse in the first half
The match turned quickly and painfully for Los Angeles.
Eichel opened the scoring at 11:38, followed by three more Golden Knights forwards scoring in a span of five minutes, extending their lead 4-0, with over 6 minutes remaining in the first period.
By the time Trevor Moore scored Los Angeles’ only goal, the damage was already done and very difficult to repair.
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Vegas was the more engaged team tonight and seemed more focused on the ice, holding the Kings at bay in all three zones during a sloppy opening period that set the tone for the evening.
In more bad news for the Kings, Andre Kuzmenko left the game in the first period after taking a shot to the side of the head after going in front of the net, but was able to skate to the locker room with help from the helper.
Despite returning in the second period, Kuzmenko remained on the bench and did not return for the remainder of the evening.
Kopitar reaches 1,300 points
Despite the loss, the Kings had something to celebrate tonight after Anze Kopitar reached a milestone, recording the 1,300th point of his NHL career with his assist on Moore’s goal. Kopitar became the 39th skater in league history, and only the eighth born outside of North America to achieve this goal.
Kings struggle to return
From that point on, both teams remained scoreless after a torrid start by the Golden Knights in the first period, which seemed to demoralize the Kings from the start. Despite Vegas overtaking 33-22the Kings were once again horrible on the power play, going 0/5had turnover problems again and, for the second straight game, the defense allowed four goals.
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Tonight’s loss puts the Kings 10 games under .500, and with 60 points in 56 games, Los Angeles has little room for nights like this as the pursuit of a wild card spot becomes more and more unlikely with each loss.
Slow starts and recovering just to lose in overtime or a shootout have become a constant trend in Los Angeles, and Thursday’s first period was perhaps the most damaging example yet.
The Kings’ next game is Wednesday, February 25 against the Vegas Golden at 7:00 p.m. PT at Crypto.com Arena, which will begin their six-game homestand following their exit from the Winter Olympics. We will most likely see Artemi Panarin make his debut for the Los Angeles Kings in this game, and the Kings will need to get as many reinforcements back as possible if they want to have a chance of at least making the playoffs at this point.
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