Kings get off to a tough start to the season

With two of last season's division champions on the schedule to start the season, Kings coach Todd McLellan said he wanted to give both goaltenders a chance to get time in the net.

“We have to get everybody going here,” McLellan said. “We are playing against arguably two of the top five teams probably in the National Hockey League right off the bat and both are going to get tested. We need them to play all season long.”

The Kings goalies got an early look at what lies ahead as the season gets rolling. Cam Talbot started the opener and allowed four goals in a loss to the Colorado Avalanche. On Saturday, Pheonix Copley started and gave up five goals to the Carolina Hurricanes.

But while goaltending might be a challenge moving forward, the Kings' offense was in midseason form, coming back from a three-goal deficit against one of the best teams in the league to force overtime. The result wasn't what the Kings had hoped to get — losing 6-5 in a shootout — but it showed they could stay with the best.

“It was a very good point we earned and it's a bad point we gave away,” McLellan said. “I think the resilience of the group coming back and not quitting, actually playing, for the most part, made it a pretty good game.

“The brain cramps — I can't use some words I'd like to use in the individual errors — were very costly for the group as a whole. Those have to get cleaned up. There's some guys that need to get sharp.”

With the Kings trailing 5-3 heading into the third period, Vladislav Gavrikov midway through the period and Anze Kopitar scored his second goal of the game with 1:22 left in regulation to tie the score at 5.

Drew Doughty, Trevor Moore also scored for the Kings.

In the shootout, Jordan Martinook of the Hurricanes scored the deciding goal in the ninth round. ARIVIDSSON LIKELY NEEDS BACK SURGERY ❯❯ Kings forward Viktor Arvidsson, who was placed on the long-term injured list Thursday, likely needs another surgery on his back and will sideline him for an extended period, GM Rob Blake said.

The 30-year-old Arvidsson also had back surgery in spring 2022 to correct an injury that forced him to miss the postseason, but he recovered and played throughout the 2022-23 season, scoring 59 points.

Blake said Arvidsson hurt his back in the Kings' first practice after their last preseason game.

“Looks like he may have to have surgery next week for a repair, which would take him out month to month,” Blake said. “So we had to put him on longterm (injured reserve), which allowed us to recall some players. But (you're) never going to replace a player like Arvi. Very tenacious, generates a lot of shots, but keeps the team in it most of the time and gets guys going, too.”

Arvidsson has 173 goals and 174 assists in parts of nine NHL seasons with Nashville and Los Angeles, which acquired him in a trade in July 2021.