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The Los Angeles Kings dropped their first game of the 2022-23 season tonight, falling 4-3 to the Vegas Golden Knights.
The Kings had an early power play in the first couple minutes of the game and while they set up some chances, they didn’t manage any shots on goal. That said, Los Angeles had some good opportunities on the rush afterwards and then midway through the frame, the third line was able to sustain pressure in Vegas’ end and Gabriel Vilardi ripped a shot from close range past Logan Thompson to open the scoring.
The Kings did a great job limiting chances through the first 15 minutes of the period, but Vegas started to build momentum after that and much of the last few minutes were spent in Los Angeles’ end. That said, while Vegas may have outshot the Kings 16-7 in the period, it’s not necessarily indicative of how the Kings played through most of the frame, as they really only let up near the end.
The Golden Knights were able to tie the game early in the second period though, after a brutal turnover/change resulted in a 3-on-1 for the Golden Knights and Jonathan Marchessault was able to slide the puck past Quick. Los Angeles got into a bit of penalty trouble after that and Vegas took over for the rest of the period. Los Angeles really couldn’t get anything going in the frame, but managed to escape with the game tied after 40 minutes.
Early in the third period though, Quick couldn’t hang onto a rebound off a shot from Reilly Smith and the puck got to Jack Eichel, who buried it at the side of the net. The Kings tied it just two minutes later though, as Sean Durzi made a great pass to Anze Kopitar, who delayed and took it behind the net, then found Adrian Kempe for a tap-in to tie the game.
Vegas took their lead back on a power play only a few minutes later, as Alex Pietrangelo found William Karlsson for a tip-in to make it a 3-2 game. The back and forth continued later though and just as a Kings’ power play expired, Trevor Moore battled to get a puck over to Arthur Kaliyev, who tied the game 3-3 with roughly seven minutes to go. The game really opened up in the final few minutes with some quality chances exchanged off the rush.
In the final 30 seconds, however, a long stretch pass from Sean Durzi got picked off and a rush came back the other way, with Mark Stone firing a shot past Quick to put the Golden Knights ahead one last time, as they hung on for the win.
Giving up a goal that late and coming away without a point is definitely a tough way to start the year. That said, the Kings were outplayed through a lot of this game. After a great start in the first 15 minutes, Vegas was the better team through the rest of the night.
Vegas outshot Los Angeles by a massive 51-30 margin and while I don’t think the game was quite as lopsided as the shot totals suggest, the Kings really struggled to get anything going in the back 40 minutes. Jonathan Quick was counted on more than he should be and played a key role in keeping the team in the game.
While there weren’t a ton of positives when it came to the Kings’ offense, I thought the third line was definitely the team’s best. They were able to sustain pressure and consistently generated chances once they were able to enter the Golden Knights’ end. On a similar note, Gabriel Vilardi is going to be fun to watch this year. He looks great and fits well with Quinton Byfield and Alex Iafallo, and hopefully, this is the season where he finally takes the next step.
While Sean Durzi may have made a great pass to set up the team’s second goal and had a bit of a solo rush chance after that, he had a really rough night overall. Durzi had far too many unnecessary turnovers and played a big role in two of the goals against. He has the tools to be a high-end offensive defenseman but really needs to start taking some steps in rounding out his defensive game.
It’s obviously a disappointing way to open the season, but it’s just Game One and there were at least some positives to take from the team’s strong start. The Kings will be back in action on Thursday against the Seattle Kraken.
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