LOS ANGELES — Taking three weeks off to accommodate the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, the NHL schedule resumed Wednesday night and the Kings picked up where they paused.
Hosting the Pacific Division-leading Vegas Golden Knights, the Kings came into the game three points shy of a playoff spot following losses in four of five games prior to the break, including a three-goal defeat to the Knights on Feb. 5 in Las Vegas.
Twenty-one days later, Vegas ended the season series between the teams with a 6-4 win that featured five goals from the visitors in the last 12 minutes.
“We’re at the stage now – 26 games, 51 days – we’ve got to play and get points,” Kings head coach Jim Hiller said. “There’s another opportunity tonight to get two we didn’t get. We can’t let opportunities slip by.
“We’ve had a lot of meetings. We had a lot of practice. We’ve got to get on the ice and execute and get points.”
Losing Swiss forward Kevin Fiala for the season after he suffered a broken leg during the Olympic tournament, the Kings (23-20-14, 60 points) hoped recent addition Artemi Panarin could make an immediate impact.
Acquired two days before the Olympic break in a trade with the New York Rangers in exchange for forward Liam Greentree and draft picks, the 34-year-old Russian winger showed promising signs for a team near the bottom of the league in beating opposing goaltenders.
Joining Alex Laferriere and Adrian Kempe on the first line, Panarin did factor in the Kings’ 2-1 lead heading into the third period.
Notching his first point for the black and silver with a power-play assist off the skate of Quinton Byfield at 13:51 of the opening frame, Panarin, wearing jersey No. 72, added another assist at 14:44 of the second period as part of a terrific combination play with Anze Kopitar to set up Kempe’s 21st goal of the season.
“I think he gave us what he’s going to give us,” Hiller said. “That line together, despite playing their first game, I thought looked like they had chemistry. They moved the puck between the three of them pretty well, so that’s probably the positive from the evening. But he’s a great player. You saw that tonight and you’ve seen that for the last 10-12 years in the league.”
The Kings snatched the lead shortly after killing a penalty stemming from Corey Perry fighting with the Golden Knights’ Jeremy Lauzon, who dropped a hard check on Byfield along the boards.
Scratching five participants from Sunday’s gold-medal match between the U.S. and Canada – Americans Jack Eichel and Noah Hanifin along with Canadians Mark Stone, Mitch Marner and Shea Theodore – Vegas showed up without key offensive contributors yet took advantage of a rival that has the league’s third-worst points percentage at home this season.
“It’s the NHL,” Hiller said. “They played hard. They’re missing some of their high-end guys. They made it hard on us. They checked hard. We had an opportunity clearly to win the game, and made three mistakes in four minutes and all three ended up in the back of the net.”
At 10:59 of the first period, Vegas jumped in front when Russian winger Pavel Dorofeyev scored on the backside of a two-on-one against Kings goaltender Anton Forsberg.
The visitors wouldn’t score again until 8:07 of the third, when a Colton Sissons backhand led to his fourth goal of the season.
That was the beginning of a swarm of third-period goals for the Golden Knights that turned the game on its head.
“I thought we were in a good spot,” Vegas head coach Bruce Cassidy said. “I really did. I didn’t see it going that way, honestly. I was thinking 3-2, so if we get one that gives us a chance.”
Less than two minutes later, a snapshot by Brandon Saad inside the right circle snuck by Forsberg for the lead.
Sixty-five seconds after that, the Golden Knights made it 4-2 when a Reilly Smith backhand evaded Forsberg for his 10th of the season.
The Kings clawed back with an unassisted wrister from Byfield, his 13th of the season, directly in front of Knights netminder Adin Hill at 13:26.
But a roughing call on Panarin at 15:10 – he took a swipe at Lauzon along the boards – was immediately cashed for a power-play goal, Dorofeyev’s 28th of the campaign.
Pulling Forsberg for an extra attacker, a Brandt Clarke slap shot from the blue line glanced off the underside of the crossbar to give the Kings life in the final 66 seconds. However the Knights (28-16-14, 70 points) quickly ended any thought of a comeback, picking up an empty-net finish for Ivan Barbarshev’s 17th of the season.
Closing the 11th of 16 back-to-back sets of games this season, the Kings host the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday.
“Obviously this one hurts but we’ve got to keep moving forward,” Byfield said. “Tomorrow is a massive game as well. They’re right there in the standings. We’re trying to make a run here and get in, so big game.”