Kings can't convert enough, fall in OT
With an opportunity to climb to the top of the Western Conference, the Kings lost their footing against the Vancouver Canucks, losing 3-2 in a shootout at Crypto.com Arena on Saturday despite commanding much of the match in nearly every aspect.
The Vegas Golden Knights were idle Saturday, leaving them in a points tie with the Kings but with the primary tiebreaker in hand. Elsewhere in the division, Evander Kane's hat trick propelled the Edmonton Oilers to a victory over the Seattle Kraken in a clash of the third- and fourth-place teams, leaving Edmonton within four points of the Kings.
Alex Edler and Carl Gr- undstrom scored goals in regulation for the Kings. Joonas Korpisalo made 15 saves, saddling him with his first loss as a King since being traded from Columbus on Feb. 28. The Kings are now 6-0-2 since the swap that brought them Korpisalo and defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov.
Brock Boeser and Elias Pettersson tallied for Vancouver during regulation time. Quinn Hughes and J.T. Miller contributed two assists apiece and Miller joined Andrei Kuzmenko as the only scorers in the shootout. San Diego native and former junior King Thatcher Demko was a leviathan between the pipes, stopping 38 shots.
Vancouver appeared comfortably on pace for the fewest shots on goal in regulation time of an NHL game this season, but a late surge allowed them to hit the net one more time than the San Jose Sharks did in their 6-0 loss to Colorado on March 7.
Domineering play stretched across events and situations alike for the Kings, but a combination of narrow misses and otherworldly goaltending by Demko left the game in peril
The Kings' Carl Grundstrom, right, celebrates with Arthur Kaliyev after his goal against the Canucks on Saturday.
THE SCORE
CANUCKS 3, KINGS 2 (SO)
Up next: Flames at Kings, Monday, 7:30 p.m., BSW
SUMMARY
Vancouver KIngs
Vancouver won shootout 2-0
1, Vancouver, Boeser 13 (Miller, Hughes), 10:53. 2, Kings, Edler 2 (Vilardi), 16:52. Penalties: None.
3, Kings, Grundstrom 9 (Kaliyev, Kupari), 16:18. Penalties: Brisebois, VAN (Interference on breakaway (Penalty Shot)), 10:24. Burroughs, VAN (Tripping), 11:59.
4, Vancouver, Pettersson 32 (Hughes, Miller), 11:33 (pp). Penalties: Burroughs, VAN (Cross Checking), 2:19. Anderson, LA (Tripping), 11:26.
None. Penalties: None. Vancouver 2 (Kuzmenko G, Miller G), Kings 0 (Vilardi NG, Moore NG).
Vancouver 4-2-8-3: 17. Kings 11-12-17-0: 40.
First Period:
Second Period:
Third Period: Overtime: Shootout:
Shots on goal:
Power-play opportunities:
of 1. Kings 0 of 2.
Vancouver, Demko 9-12-2 (40 shots-38 saves). Kings, Korpisalo 14-11-4 (17-15).
18,230 (18,230). T: 2:26.
Goalies:
A: 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 — 0 —
Vancouver 1
3 2
for them all evening.
Demko made his latest spectacular stop and then the Canucks drew a penalty, on which Pettersson scored his 32nd goal of the campaign from the right faceoff dot a mere six seconds into the man advantage to even the score with 8:27 to play. Pettersson has recorded a point in 10 straight meetings with the Kings as part of 19 points in 12 confrontations overall.
The Kings buzzed early in the third period as they had late in the second, forcing Demko to make five saves in the first two minutes.
Though they'd dominated possession, the faceoff circle and the shot total alike, the
Kings didn't have their first lead until there was only 3:42 remaining in the second period. Grundstrom started the sequence by separating Hughes from the puck behind the net with a powerful check and then finished with a point-blank goal off a pair of passes in tight and a little soccer skills as he kicked the puck to his stick. His ninth goal matched his career high from last season.
Right at the midpoint of the game, forward Quinton Byfield proffered a powerful individual effort to generate a scoring chance, and on the same shift Adrian Kempe earned a penalty shot. But Byfield's shot went wide and Demko was up to the task against Kempe. Less than a minute later, Demko was under considerable fire until he stoned defenseman Jordan Spence and sent the puck out of play.
With 3:08 left in the first period, the Kings knotted the score. Hughes fanned on a shot, leading to a Gabe Vilardi steal. Vilardi hit a trailing Edler for a goal from between the circles. It was Edler's second goal of the season and the first of his career against the team he played more for between 2006 and 2021.
The Kings registered the first eight shots of the game but Vancouver netted the first goal, nearly 11 minutes into the match. A muted counterattack turned into an unexpected goal, Boeser's 13th of the year.
WESTERN CONFERENCE
PACIFIC DIVISION
Vegas Kings Edmonton Seattle Calgary Vancouver Ducks
San Jose
Dallas Colorado Minnesota Winnipeg Nashville St. Louis Arizona Chicago x-Boston Toronto Tampa Bay Florida Buffalo Ottawa Detroit Montreal
Carolina
New Jersey N.Y. Rangers Pittsburgh N.Y. Islanders Washington Philadelphia Columbus
GP W
69 70 70 69 70 68 69 69
CENTRAL DIVISION
68 69 70 69 68 69 68 70 68 69 69 69 70 70 69 68
Saturday's results
Today's games
42 40 39 38 31 30 23 19
GP W
70 38 68 40 69 39 70 39 67 34 68 30 69 26 68 24
EASTERN CONFERENCE
ATLANTIC DIVISION
GP W
52 42 42 35 33 33 30 27
GP W
45 44 40 34 35 33 25 21
L OT Pts GF GA
21 20 23 24 24 33 36 36 11 18 22 27 29 31 29 37
METROPOLITAN DIVISION
15 18 19 25 27 30 32 40 6 10 8 7 15 5 10 14 8 7 10 10 8 7 12
7
Vancouver 3, Kings 2, SO Colorado 5, Detroit 1
Winnipeg 3, Nashville 2, OT Boston 5, Minnesota 2 Edmonton 6, Seattle 4 Carolina 5, Philadelphia 4, OT Florida 4, New Jersey 2
Tampa Bay 5, Montreal 3 Toronto 5, Ottawa 4, SO
N.Y. Rangers 6, Pittsburgh 0 Dallas 6, Calgary 5, OT Chicago at Arizona, late
N.Y. Islanders at San Jose, late 90 224 195 90 239 227 86 274 236 83 240 223 77 224 217 65 232 260 56 182 281 52 199 265
L OT Pts GF GA
19 13 89 243 194 22 6 86 226 191 22 8 86 205 188 28 3 81 216 199 25 8 76 191 195 33 5 65 215 252 32 11 63 195 242 38 6 54 173 240
L OT Pts GF GA
5 109 256 150 9 93 237 187 6 90 246 213 7 77 242 233 6 72 248 249 5 71 218 228 9 69 201 224 6 60 198 262
L OT Pts GF GA
98 229 177 95 241 189 90 232 191 78 223 226 78 204 195 73 218 214 62 181 229 49 180 260
Boston at Buffalo, 10 a.m. Washington at Minnesota, 11 a.m. Columbus at Vegas, 1 p.m. Nashville at N.Y. Rangers, 4 p.m. New Jersey at Tampa Bay, 4 p.m. Winnipeg at St. Louis, 4 p.m. Vancouver at Ducks, 5 p.m.