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The Los Angeles Kings ended their six-game road trip with a win last night, coming away with a 3-2 shootout victory over the Boston Bruins.
Heading into the final game of their road trip, the Kings were coming off a 6-0 loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday, which saw them collapse in the third period. The Kings had completely outchanced Buffalo early, and outshot them by a massive 16-3 margin in the first period. While the game did even out a bit in the second period (with the Kings taking a few penalties), they were playing well through 40 minutes and had controlled much of the first two periods overall.
Buffalo did open the scoring on a power play in the third period off a great shot from Tage Thompson, but it wasn’t until about the midway mark of the frame that things really went south for the Kings. The Sabres scored two goals in just 13 seconds courtesy of Victor Olofsson and JJ Peterka to go up by three, before they continued to pile on later. Late power play goals from Alex Tuch, then another by Thompson turned it into a bit of a blowout, before Olofsson made a nice move to find Peyton Krebs for a tap-in, leading to a 6-0 win for Buffalo after a gigantic third period.
Then last night, the Kings came out strong in the first half of the opening frame against Boston, but ended up quickly giving up some great chances in the back half of the period, relying on Pheonix Copley for some big saves to keep the game scoreless through 20 minutes. In the second period though, the Kings really struggled to get much going and Taylor Hall ended up opening the scoring, beating a screened Copley with a nice wrist shot. Then only a couple minutes later, Brad Marchand sniped a shot over Copley’s shoulder on a power play, quickly making it a 2-0 game. Los Angeles did end up building a bit of momentum after that, but still trailed at the second intermission.
The Kings ended up getting on the board midway through the third period though, with Adrian Kempe whacking in a rebound off a shot from Kevin Fiala to cut the lead in half. Then after Boston had some good chances to reinstate the lead on a power play a little later, Los Angeles ended up with a 5-on-3 and Kempe buried his second goal of the game off a great pass from Fiala, tying the game with only two minutes to go.
Then once overtime didn’t solve anything, the game ended up continuing to a lengthy shootout. After each of the first four shooters scored, nobody could capitalize after that, all the way until the seventh round. At that point, Copley stopped one more shooter in Patrice Bergeron, and Trevor Moore managed to pick a corner, giving Los Angeles the extra point.
It’s a big win against the Bruins, beating a very good team on the road. The game also wraps up what was a decent, but not spectacular road trip for the Kings. They ended up securing seven of a possible 12 points, with a 3-2-1 record. They put together a couple really good performances (notably in Ottawa and Montreal), but had some pretty rough ones as well.
It’s clear things still aren’t completely right with the Kings, as they continue to frequently suffer from defensive lapses.
It was also interesting to see Copley get a second straight start, especially after giving up six goals in the loss to Buffalo. He didn’t have much of a chance on most of those anyways, but he certainly made the most of the start in Boston, being a key reason the Kings came away with the two points.
Los Angeles will be back in action tomorrow, when they kick off a three-game homestand against the San Jose Sharks.
In some other pretty huge news, the Kings also signed Trevor Moore to a five-year contract extension yesterday, which carries a $4.2 million cap hit.
Moore is 27 years old and has become a really important piece for the Kings. He’s managed seven goals and 18 points in 33 games this year, a pace of 17 goals and 45 points per 82 games.
A key with Moore is that he’s an extremely well-rounded and versatile forward. He’s got great speed and puck control, and can also add some offense. However, he’s also really strong defensively and has a great work ethic, always playing with intensity. Even if he isn’t putting up a ton of points, he contributes in other ways and could be used pretty much anywhere in the lineup while still making an impact.
The deal is really fair, and I’ll try to go more in-depth with it in the near future. In short though, it’s very fair value and comes at a reasonable term, as Los Angeles locks up a really important player.
OTHER ARTICLES FROM DECEMBER
Kings earn important home win over Coyotes
Kings end homestand with 4-2 loss to Hurricanes
Big first period propels Kings to win over Sens in first game of road trip
Kings suffer blowout loss against Maple Leafs
Kings split back-to-back with win over Canadiens, OT loss to Blue Jackets 
Los Angeles Kings Blogger • 
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