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The Los Angeles Kings dropped their home opener against the Colorado Avalanche last night, falling 5-2.
As a result of cap considerations and Viktor Arvidsson being unavailable for the season opener, Los Angeles only dressed 11 forwards and six defensemen, as Alex Laferriere made his NHL debut.
Early on, the Kings found themselves on a power play about five minutes in, and while they had some pressure, they couldn’t capitalize. Then just after it ended, the Avalanche went back down the other way, and Mikko Rantanen was able to feed the puck out front to Nathan MacKinnon, who put a well-placed shot past Cam Talbot to open the scoring for Colorado.
The teams exchanged power plays in the back half of the frame, but neither got great chances, and it was a fairly low-event period overall. Nathan MacKinnon had a couple more chances late in the frame (and was flying through a lot of the period) and Miles Wood hit a post as well, but the game remained 1-0 Avalanche through 20 minutes. The Kings arguably had more sustained pressure throughout the frame and did outshoot Colorado 11-9, but the shots didn’t necessarily result in high-danger opportunities.
Then early in the second period, Carl Grundstrom put the Kings down a man after being called for a trip, and Cale Makar extended the lead with a good shot through traffic, to make it a 2-0 game. Then under a minute later, Mikko Rantanen was able to walk towards the net and beat Talbot from a pretty bad angle on a shot that really needed to be stopped, increasing the lead to 3-0.
The Kings did respond though, with Carl Grundstrom going after Jack Johnson hard on the forecheck to force a turnover, before redirecting a pass from Phillip Danault to beat Alexandar Georgiev, getting Los Angeles on the board. Then just after, the Kings had some good momentum on a power play, with great chances for both Kevin Fiala and Adrian Kempe, but Georgiev held strong.
Things got more chippy from there, with Pierre-Luc Dubois clipping Fredrik Olofsson which resulted in a scrum, and ended with Alex Laferriere ending up in a fight in his first NHL game (and scoring a takedown).
Then as the period went on, the Kings really started to generate chances late in the frame, and following a few good opportunities, Quinton Byfield managed to cut the lead to one with only seconds to go in the period, putting the puck off an Avalanche stick and in. It was a pretty big moment, getting the Kings back into the game before the end of the frame, and setting themselves up with a chance to complete the comeback in the third.
Los Angeles had a good power play opportunity early in the third period where they had great chances to tie the game, but just couldn’t convert. Then soon after the power play expired, the play went down the other way to the Kings’ end, and Mikko Rantanen was there to tip-in a point shot, reinstating Colorado’s two-goal lead.
The Kings went back on the man advantage yet again soon after, when Adrian Kempe took a high hit from Bowen Byram behind the Avalanche net, but couldn’t pull the game back within reach. In the back half of the period, Blake Lizotte put a shot off the crossbar and that’s the best chance Los Angeles would get, as Miles Wood buried an empty netter with about four minutes to go, securing a 5-2 Avalanche win.
I don’t think this was necessarily a poor game for the Kings. They were right in the game pretty much all the way through, and battled back after they went down by a few goals early. But there were a few glaring reasons for the loss.
First, the power play just couldn’t convert. Los Angeles had all the opportunities they could’ve asked for on the man advantage, spending one-sixth of the game on the power play. They had their chances on those power plays as well, throwing 11 shots on goal across the five opportunities. But the squandered chances on the man advantage were a difference-maker.
The goaltending battle was also a factor. Simply put, Georgiev made the saves he needed to for the Avalanche, bailing out his team a few times. While Cam Talbot didn’t have a bad game outright, he did allow a weak goal on the Rantanen shot, and wasn’t the better netminder. Chances are Pheonix Copley gets the call next game.
Also, aside from the power plays in the third period, the Kings didn’t generate a ton in the final frame. They were outshot by a big margin, and didn’t get enough going at even strength to try to climb back into the game.
The Kings also really relied on their top players with their current lineup construction. Blake Lizotte and Carl Grundstrom were both limited to under 10 minutes, while Tobias Bjornfot and Anreas Englund only played about 10 minutes and 13 minutes respectively. I understand not wanting to lose either defender to waivers if they’re sent down, but if they’re not going to play anyways, just take your chances with the AHL assignment and call up Jordan Spence.
I still don’t think there’s major reason for concern after the loss (other than the expected goaltending concern) – they faced a good team and just came up short. There were also positives, especially Alex Laferriere not looking out of place in his debut. The Kings couldn’t capitalize on their chances, while the Avalanche did.
Meanwhile today, the Kings also announced that Viktor Arvidsson will be placed on long-term injured reserve, meaning he’s expected to miss at least 10 games for the team. While the injury is significant in terms of being a hit to the team’s forward group, it does help them with their cap situation.
Other paper transactions made were calling up Alex Turcotte and Brandt Clarke, while assigning Alex Laferriere and Arthur Kaliyev to the AHL. We should see both players back up before the Kings’ next game.
Los Angeles will be back in action on Saturday, when they host the Carolina Hurricanes.
OTHER ARTICLES FROM OCTOBER
- Kings assign Brandt Clarke to AHL and extend McLellan, Kaliyev suspended
- Kings announce season-opening roster 
Los Angeles Kings Blogger • 
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