Golden Knights vs. Kings
How the Knights fared against the Kings during the regular season:
Nov. 19 — Knights 4, Kings 2 at T-mobile Arena. The Knights jumped to a 3-0 lead in the opening 11:22 and chased Kings goalie Jonathan Quick. William Karlsson scored twice in the first period, and after the Kings closed to within 3-2 on goals from Trevor Lewis and Tanner Pearson, Knights right wing Alex Tuch sealed the win with an empty-net goal with 1:02 to play. Maxime Lagace, one of five goaltenders the Knights would use during the season due to injuries, made 27 saves for the victory.
Dec. 28 — Knights 3, Kings 2 (OT) at Staples Center. David Perron scored the game-winner with 1:30 remaining in overtime. Brendan Leipsic gave the Knights a 2-1 lead 8:50 into the third period, but the Kings tied it on Drew Doughty’s goal with 4:33 to play. Marcandre Fleury made 26 saves in outdueling Quick for the win.
Feb. 26 — Kings 3, Knights 2 (OT) at Staples Center. On the day the Knights acquired Tomas Tatar in a trade with Detroit, they would lose forwards James Neal and Oscar Lindberg to upper-body injuries. Yet despite playing with just 10 forwards, coach Gerard Gallant was able to shuffle his lines and the Knights had a 2-0 lead going into the third period thanks to goals by Erik Haula and Reilly Smith. But Los Angeles rallied, and Dustin Brown won it with a powerplay goal 3:14 into OT while Colin Miller was in the penalty box for hooking.
Feb. 27 — Kings 4, Knights 1 at T-mobile Arena. There was plenty of anger left over from the loss the night before. Tatar made his debut for the Knights and recently acquired Ryan Reaves was trying to exact revenge after Kyle Clifford had knocked Lindberg out of the game a night earlier with an elbow to the head. Things started well for the Knights as Karlsson scored early. But the Kings took over and cruised to another victory. The Knights, meanwhile, lost two more players as defenseman Luca Sbisa suffered a hand injury and fellow defenseman Nate Schmidt was banged up toward the end of the game and would sit out four games.
Steve Carp