LOS ANGELES — The Kings appeared to have a pair of shiny presents under their tree, with a back-to-back set at home against the last-place teams in each conference, as both opponents were undermanned due to injuries.
Instead, they got two fat lumps of coal heading into the Christmas break, as they fell to the Seattle Kraken, 3-2, on Tuesday night at Crypto.com Arena, 24 hours after losing to the Columbus Blue Jackets sans Zach Werenski.
The Kings have lost six of seven games, and though the Kraken have won three straight, that streak came on the heels of 10 defeats in 11 outings. The trend wasn’t the Kings’ friend: they were 4-0-1 in the back end of back-to-back sets, while Seattle had lost 17 such games in a row.
What the Kraken had never done in their franchise history was lose a game they led by three goals, which held true for the 73rd time on Tuesday, despite a heart-stopping shot from Kevin Fiala that dinged the crossbar as the final horn loomed.
“I’m not worried. I’m sure we’re going to get out of this, but it’s not acceptable, right now, how we’re playing, and we have to get better,” Fiala said.
Fiala and Andrei Kuzmenko scored for the Kings. Pheonix Copley made his first start since Dec. 10, 2023 and stopped 25 shots.
Jordan Eberle, Frederick Gaudreau and Ben Meyers each notched a goal for Seattle. Eeli Tolvanen chipped in two assists. Joey Daccord had 35 saves. The Kraken were battered, missing their two best defensemen in Vince Dunn and Brandon Montour as well as two top-six attackers, Jared McCann and Jaden Schwartz.
The Kings (15-12-9) have scored two goals or fewer in 20 of their 36 games. They’ve won just five of those 20 decisions. Though they had some analytical barometers to hang their hat on, special-teams excellence and consistent engagement were lacking once more.
They started the game well territorially, turning defense to offense to generate a pair of strong opportunities for Adrian Kempe. Just the same, the NHL’s two lowest-scoring teams in the first period this season produced a predictably scoreless first period.
Yet in the middle frame, things unraveled for the Kings, as their penalty kill continued to struggle and Copley’s rust corroded their efforts.
Seventy seconds into the second, Eberle struck for the third time in three periods after scoring the game-winning goal and an empty-netter in Anaheim a night earlier. After Cody Ceci took the bait of Matty Beniers in the slot, Beniers found Eberle alone in front for a pivoting shot to the far side.
That meant the Kings allowed a power-play goal for the fourth straight game. They have given up three in a game three times this season, but twice in less than two weeks. They ceded three to the Kraken on Dec. 10 and three more to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday night.
“That’s part of the Christmas break, those will be discussions,” Kings coach Jim Hiller said. “We have to understand if we need to do things differently or just do them better.”
Gaudreau extended Seattle’s edge at 7:26. He was closed off by Brian Dumoulin and flicked the puck harmlessly toward the net. Like an outfielder losing a high pop-up in the stadium lights, Copley missed the puck completely on what was tantamount to an own goal.
The two teams then exchanged goals to keep Seattle up 3-1 at the second intermission.
With 3:58 left in the stanza, it was end-to-end action as the Kings foiled one odd-man rush for the Kraken and then countered. Quinton Byfield had his shot blocked and a poor pinch by Drew Doughty sent the Kraken off on a two-on-one break. Meyers elected to keep the puck and beat Copley far side to make it 3-nil.
The Kings broke up Daccord’s shutout just 11 seconds later. Anže Kopitar disrupted an exchange between Daccord and defenseman Josh Mahura. That allowed Fiala to gobble up the puck and catch Daccord out of position with a backhand shot for his 13th goal, tying him with Kempe for the team lead.
Kuzmenko pulled the Kings within a goal off of Brandt Clarke’s ninth primary assist of the season, tops among Kings defensemen. Clarke spotted Kuzmenko clamoring for the puck after a line change. The vivacious Russian sprang forward for a wraparound goal. It was his third even-strength goal of the season but his second in two nights.
“It was a good moment for me. I saw the goalkeeper took one step from the net on my side, so I made a quick reaction and went behind the net,” said Kuzmenko, adding that everyone understood the last seven games had been subpar.
The Kings could not close the gap however, despite Fiala hitting the iron in the last gasps. They also had a late truncated power play and around 90 seconds of six-on-five time. They are now 13 for their last 106 on the power play, leaving them in last place in the NHL from their third game of the season onward.
“Last year we had a lot of goals, this year we don’t have a lot of goals,” Kuzmenko stated succinctly.
“We have good communication and a good connection with the coaching staff,” he added. “They’re a big help on the power play and the PK, but we go on the ice, and we don’t have good results. It’s a question for everyone in the locker room.”