Petersen saves the day with big third period to beat Vegas
Sinking in the standings lately, the Kings responded resoundingly Sunday with an elusive win over the top team in the West, toppling the Vegas Golden Knights 3-1 at Staples Center.
The Kings entered the game in sixth place, trailing fourth-place St. Louis by seven points for the final playoff spot, a gap they narrowed to five with Sunday’s victory. They also leapfrogged the Arizona Coyotes. By beating Vegas for the first time in four meetings, the Kings have now won at least one game against each divisional foe this season.
“I thought we did a good job of starting the game and then just kind of kept rolling to eventually get the first goal and get a two-goal lead,” center Anze Kopitar said.
Winger Dustin Brown scored his team-leading 14th goal, which was also his team-leading eighth on the power play. Defenseman Sean Walker became the third Kings blue-liner to score this season and forward Jeff Carter added a breakaway goal. Kopitar had two assists, tying and then passing Hall of Fame defenseman Bobby Orr on the career assists list. Cal Petersen made 41 saves, turning in a magnificent performance in the third period.
Center Tomas Nosek tallied for Vegas. Marc-Andre Fleury, arguably the West’s best goalie this season, stopped 28 shots.
Carter clinched the victory with 2:32 remaining when winger Andreas Athanasiou freed him for a breakaway with some deft touch on a lead pass. Carter deked from forehand to backhand, opening Fleury up for a five-hole goal. Carter had gone four games without a point and seven without a goal.
“That’s what we’re accustomed to seeing,” Kopitar said. “He was due and he’ll gladly take it tonight. Hopefully he can continue scoring.”
Vegas cut the Kings’ lead to a single goal with 3:27 remaining in the game. Nosek drove wide on the left side, lifting a puck that hit Petersen’s mask, landed behind him and trickled across the goal line.
The third period belonged to Vegas territorially, but Petersen saved his best goaltending for the final 20 minutes. After making 18 saves through two periods, Petersen stopped 23 shots in the third as Vegas spent considerable time in the Kings’ zone.
Vegas drew a tripping penalty on Carter just over two minutes into the third period. The officials awarded the Golden Knights a goal on the ensuing power play when Kings defenseman Drew Doughty stood in the goal crease and blocked a shot attempt.
The goal was disallowed after an official review — the puck did not enter the net — but Doughty was assessed a delay of game penalty for knocking the net off its moorings. The Kings proceeded to kill both penalties, including over a minute of five-on-three time, and preserved their twogoal lead.
“The penalty kill was huge. To come out of it unscathed five-on-three for that amount of time against the group was desperately needed,” Kings coach Todd McLellan said. “Real good killing by the killers and, in particular, Cal.”
Seconds before the seven-minute mark of the period, the Kings put together two rapid-fire tallies.
First, Walker scored his first goal of the season.
Center Gabe Vilardi shot from the left point into a pile of bodies, and Walker followed up with a shot attempt, first flipping the puck skyward toward the goal, and then slipping it along the ice off his backhand and in. In the scramble, Vegas appealed, saying Kopitar interfered with Fleury. But the goal was upheld on video review, giving the Golden Knights a penalty and affording the Kings a man-advantage opportunity.
They converted it into a 2-0 lead just 51 seconds later.
Brown set up shop at the right side of the net. Kopitar moved the puck to the left faceoff circle for winger Alex Iafallo, who made a heady play with a shotpass across the seam. Disguising his dish as a shot, he drew Vegas’s defenders away from Brown before dropping the puck to him for the hockey equivalent of an uncontested slam dunk 6:49 into the period.
Early in the second period, forward Austin Wagner took exception to a hit by Vegas winger Keegan Kolesar, and the two fought. Wagner took the short end of the tilt — he was giving up more than 30 pounds to the rugged Kolesar.
Kolesar did not play in Friday’s game, but drew back in Sunday for left winger Max Pacioretty, who sustained a lowerbody injury. Pacioretty scored six points in the three previous meetings with the Kings, including a pair of goals Friday.