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The Los Angeles Kings’ current point streak has now set a franchise record, with their 7-6 win over the St. Louis Blues yesterday marking their 12th straight game earning a point.
We did see quite a few adjustments made to the Kings' lineup for the game. Kevin Fiala returned to action, joining the second line with Phillip Danault and Viktor Arvidsson. Given Blake Lizotte was serving a one-game suspension, Trevor Moore shifted down to the third line to play center, while Jaret Anderson-Dolan came into the lineup for Zack MacEwen. Sean Durzi also returned to the lineup, drawing in for Alex Edler.
For the second game in a row, Viktor Arvidsson opened the scoring early, beating Joel Hofer only about 30 seconds into the game. Then only minutes later, Arvidsson set up Alex Iafallo on a power play to increase the lead to 2-0, under three minutes into the game. The Kings kept coming after that, with Hofer completely whiffing on a shot from Adrian Kempe coming down the wing shorthanded, to make it a three-goal lead. The Blues did respond right afterwards off a goal from Brandon Saad, but later in the frame, Arvidsson scored again, taking a pass from Sean Durzi. The onslaught didn’t end there, with Trevor Moore tipping in a shot from Phillip Danault on the power play to make it 5-1 through 20 minutes.
Justin Faulk got one back for the Blues early in the second period, but the Kings turned it into a pretty low-event period after that, so there wasn’t much cause for concern at the time. However, things took a turn after Arvidsson missed a penalty shot, and later in the frame, Pavel Buchnevich took a pass to beat Pheonix Copley, before Jordan Kyrou scored only 1:30 later, to cut the lead to one through two periods.
Adrian Kempe did put Los Angeles back up by two after a turnover from the Blues early in the second period, but St. Louis kept hanging around, as Kasperi Kapanen brought the Blues back to within one once again later in the frame. Shortly after Kapanen’s goal though, Drew Doughty wired a slapshot through a screen, to make it a 7-5 game.
With under a minute to go, Kyrou scored (putting the puck off Vladislav Gavrikov), cutting the lead to one yet again, but the Kings did hold on for a narrow win.
With the win, the Kings cap off their seven-game homestand with a 5-0-2 record.
The Kings’ offense continues to be explosive through the steak, with last night as another example. Over the 12 games, the Kings have scored at least four goals in nine of them, totalling 53 goals (for an average of 4.4 goals per game). The team’s power play was also dominant, going 4-for-5 last night.
Viktor Arvidsson has been on an absolute roll lately and even with the missed penalty shot, he’s still managed five goals over the last three games (and three-straight multi-point games). At the same time, Phillip Danault has also been hot and with three assists last night, he’s sitting at three goals and 10 points over his last nine games.
Adrian Kempe continues what’s been a huge back half of the season for him as well. With two more goals yesterday, he’s now scored 21 goals over his last 30 games.
Kevin Fiala also looked good in his return with two assists (though there was a temporary scare when it looked like he had hurt himself on a non-contact play, but he continued on). Meanwhile, Sean Durzi made an impact while drawing back into action as well, setting up Arvidsson for a goal in the first period and registering two assists as well.
Perhaps the downside to the game was that there were a lot of mistakes from Los Angeles, despite only allowing 22 shots against.The Kings only gave up six shots in the second period where they allowed the three goals to let St. Louis back in the game, but those lapses could’ve been a difference-maker. It was one of the only recent games where the Kings started to look sloppy in their own end. Obviously, they were able to outscore those issues, but it’s something to keep an eye on.
In other news, the Kings also signed prospect Alex Laferriere to a three-year, entry-level contract yesterday. Laferriere was selected 83rd overall by the Kings in 2020 and posted huge numbers with Harvard in the NCAA this season, scoring 21 goals and 42 points in 34 games.
What’s interesting though is that per Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli, Laferriere is expected to play with the Kings this season and burn the first year of his entry-level contract. His age makes him ineligible for his ELC to slide, so that makes sense, but it seems strange that he’d be getting into game action with Los Angeles at this point. Given the Kings’ already crowded forward group and their position right now as a top team, this seems like an odd idea, even if they start resting players in the final few games of the year.
The Kings will now embark on a road trip, where they’ll play four games in six days against Pacific Division opponents. Following a game against the Calgary Flames on Tuesday, they’ll face the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday, before a weekend back-to-back against the Seattle Kraken and Vancouver Canucks.
PollMaker
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