LOS ANGELES –– The Kings appeared to be hitting all the right notes in the third period, overcoming a second-intermission deficit and carrying a lead as well as a power play into the final minute of Wednesday’s game against the St. Louis Blues at Staples Center.
But St. Louis defenseman Torey Krug changed the tempo and time on the Kings with a short-handed equalizer in the dying moments of regulation, and the Kings needed a stirring overtime period and riveting duel of a shootout – five goals were scored and multiple posts were struck – to come away with a 3-2 victory.
The Kings’ winning streak reached three games, their longest since a six-game stretch in February of last season. It is also the first time since November 2009 that the Kings have won consecutive games they trailed going into the third period.
“I really think that between the second and third period we had to decide if we were going to let frustration sink in for another period, or if we were going to play through it,” Kings coach Todd McLellan said. “The adjustment wasn’t how we were playing, but how we were playing between our ears. Clean it out a little bit and let’s go.”
After winning only one of their first seven games, the Kings are starting to find their stride despite being without injured defensemen Drew Doughty and Sean Walker.
Wingers Arthur Kaliyev and Adrian Kempe scored for the Kings, and both scored in the shootout. Winger Alex Iafallo extended his point streak to four games with an assist and also connected in the shootout. Goalie Jonathan Quick was sharp in goal overall, turning away 33 shots to earn first-star honors.
Krug and former Kings forward Brayden Schenn scored for St. Louis, and Jordan Binnington made 33 saves.
When asked about missed opportunities to put the game away, Kempe was unsure if he was being asked about regulation, when captain Anze Kopitar missed an empty-net shot attempt, or overtime, when the Kings had an 8-0 shots advantage with several sterling chances, including center Phillip Danault’s one-timer off a two-on-one rush with four seconds left.
Only 7.1 seconds remained in regulation when Krug arrived on a chaotic scene that saw winger Vladimir Tarasenko create a rebound that winger Jordan Kyrou swiped at before an opportunistic Krug zoomed in from the point to lift the puck over Quick and into the net.
“We wanted to end it in the first 60 minutes but we came back from being down 1-0 in the third period,” Kempe said. “So we focused on the bench and said ‘hey, let’s keep going here,’ we’re going to get our chances in OT and, if not, we have good players to finish it in the shootout.”
With 7:45 left to play, Iafallo nearly scored off a pass from behind the net from Kempe. Binnington’s pad foiled his point-blank shot, but Iafallo regained control of the rebound, went behind the net and whipped a pass to a lunging Kempe in front for a tap-in goal.
“(Iafallo) stripped the puck after a scoring chance behind the net, stood over top of it and protected it long enough that (Kempe) could get in the open and he put it in the right spot,” McLellan said.
At the 6:16 mark, the Kings had tied the score 1-1 with a burst of offensive creativity that had been unseen to that point in the game. Defenseman Kale Clague stretched the ice with a blue line-to-blue line pass that sprung Kaliyev into the offensive zone. Kaliyev’s snipe from the left circle beat a dejected Binnington high to the short side. Kaliyev has two goals this season, both off of primary assists from Clague.
“I saw an opening in the middle of the ice and I saw (Clague) had the puck, so I was trying to get as much speed as possible. I saw a wide opening and a chance to shoot, luckily enough it went in,” Kaliyev said.
Around 4:30 into the third period, forward Trevor Moore had broken the offensive monotony for the Kings with a takeaway that turned into a partial breakaway. On the following possession, he earned an opportunity from close range, and his productive shift helped tilt the ice.
“On the bench you could feel a little bit of momentum coming our way and that wasn’t really there all night,” McLellan said. “I’m not even sure it was there for their team either, that was just the type of game that was being played, a little bit of cat and mouse, but you could feel it starting to turn our way at that point.”
The Kings bookended the second period with power-play opportunities, but the solitary chance they gave St. Louis afforded the Blues a lead.
Iafallo nearly extended his goal streak to three games on a power play that closed the period. Winger Brandon Saad had barreled into Quick off the rush, and off the resulting draw the Kings created a rebound that was mere centimeters from Iafallo’s reach in front of an open net before it was cleared to safety.
The Kings had generated some buzz early in the period when winger Dustin Brown drew a penalty as he drove the net. They failed to convert on the ensuing power play or even hit the net.
In between, St. Louis opened the scoring, and with ruthless efficiency on the power play. Schenn won the faceoff cleanly to Krug, who set up Tarasenko for a slap shot from the top of the right circle. Schenn, who had curled behind winger Pavel Buchnevich to arrive at the goalmouth unmarked, was wide open to tap in the rebound. It all unfolded in about five seconds.
Both teams scored twice in the first three rounds of the tiebreaker: Kempe and Iafallo converted for the Kings, while David Perron and Jordan Kyrou made their shots for the Blues.
Iafallo didn’t give up on this puck
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Naming our first child Arthur Kaliyev. #GoKingsGo | #ArtyParty pic.twitter.com/Jdh09u8wMd
— LA Kings (@LAKings) November 4, 2021