LOS ANGELES — When the Kings and Ottawa Senators have gotten together this season, there’s been more fizzle than sizzle.
That was true again at Crypto.com Arena for much of Monday night, when the Kings prevailed, 2-1, to sweep the season series and win for just the second time in nine matches at home.
All three goals scored in the game came in the final 14:29 of the contest.
The Kings defeated the Senators, 1-0, in Ottawa on Nov. 15 in a game with 35 combined shots on goal and little dynamism to speak of across 60 minutes.
Monday’s game mostly followed suit, with the most excitement through the first 38 minutes coming during the scoreboard acknowledgement of former Kings defenseman Jordan Spence, who was traded to Ottawa this summer.
“It’s not always the most exciting action back and forth. Some of it’s just grinding in the neutral zone to just find a way to beat their system, and they had to find a way to beat our system,” said Brandt Clarke, who scored the game-winning goal. “We played a complete 60 minutes, and when we did that, we’re hard to beat. We’re obviously not jumping off the score sheet, but we’ll take the wins as they come.”
Warren Foegele also scored for the Kings with Joel Edmundson adding two assists. Darcy Kuemper made 27 saves.
Former San Jose Shark Fabian Zetterlund scored the only goal for Ottawa. Leevi Meriläinen stopped 20 shots. The Senators were without captain Brady Tkachuk (upper-body) and alternate captain Thomas Chabot (upper-body).
Just as Ottawa pulled its goalie, Quinton Byfield heaved a length-of-the-ice attempt that struck the post. The Kings had to defend five-on-six but successfully fended off Ottawa’s push, securing their first victory in four games.
The Kings’ power play, which had gone four for its past 50, came through in timely fashion, and in more ways than one. With just one second left on the power play, Clarke’s one-timer banked off Artem Zub and into the net with 6:10 to play.
Clarke, who gained the zone one on four and then spotted Corey Perry and Edmundson coming off the bench, deposited his third goal of the season. It was his first in 12 games and his first point since Drew Doughty sustained a foot injury in the prior meeting with Ottawa.
Ottawa made it a new game with 9:11 remaining. Tim Stützle gained the Kings’ zone and reversed the puck to Nick Jensen, who found Nikolas Matinpalo for a shot that created a rebound goal for Zetterlund.
The Kings removed the shrinkwrap from the net after 45:31 of game action had passed. After receiving Edmundson’s brilliant stretch pass, Joel Armia generated speed and slid a firm centering pass to Foegele, who had skated past Jensen for a tap-in at the back post and his fourth goal of the year. Armia has a season-high, three-game points streak.
Foegele had just three goals, three points and +1 rating entering the game, after posting 22 goals, 46 points and a team-leading +36 mark last season. Phil Danault, who is still looking for his first goal of the year and his fifth assist after 23 games, has seen an even bigger dip in production.
Coach Jim Hiller praised Foegele’s work on the penalty kill – the Kings were 3 for 3 on Monday and have negated an NHL best 92.5% of infractions in the past month – and hoped the goal would get him going offensively.
“‘Foegs’ got the goal – two players that jumped out at me were ‘Foegs’ and Phil Danault,” Hiller said, lauding Danault’s late-game faceoff wins on a night when the Kings were brutal in the circle. “Those two players, who would tell you they haven’t felt as good about their game as they’d like to, they were really important for us tonight.”
The Kings nearly got the game’s first goal in the final minute of the middle frame, but Byfield’s backhand had the same fate as Drake Batherson’s bid a moment earlier, eliciting the unmistakable ping of the post.
Just prior, Ottawa threatened during a power play, with an alert keep-in at the blue line by Stützle allowing Claude Giroux to feed Dylan Cozens for a sterling opportunity that was met by Kuemper’s pad before Batherson’s diving follow-up attempt nicked the iron.
Kuemper, who was a Vezina Trophy finalist last season for the first time at age 35, prompted Foegele to suggest Team Canada should be eyeing him for the upcoming Winter Olympics. He needed to do no more, however, to win over his teammates in black and silver.
“He’s our backbone, and he killed it tonight,” Clarke said.