The LA Kings dropped a hard-fought 2-1 decision in Minnesota to begin a five-game road trip.
Striker Anze Kopitar scored his team’s only goal that night, a late marker to bring the Kings back to one. Goaltender Phoenix Copley made 18 saves on 20 shots in the loss.
After a scoreless opening period, the Savages went on the board after just 13 seconds of the second period to take a 1-0 lead. Minnesota forward Kirill Kaprizov made room for his linemate in the right circle, and the right-shooting centerman shot past Kings goaltender Pheonix Copley on the blocker side to score his eighth goal of the season.
After a third period in which the Kings pushed for offense but got nothing, Minnesota doubled their lead with just under five minutes left. Against the flow of the game, forward Ryan Hartman took possession of the offensive zone, drew forehand and shot Copley to the top shelf for his second goal of the night.
The Kings scored the shutout within 30 seconds to play through Kopitar, who reduced the deficit to a single goal late in the game. Defender Sean Durzi’s shot from the right circle hit the post and deflected into the crease, and Kopitar hit the net to score his 19th goal of the season. Durzi and forward Adrian Kempe counted assists for the game as Kempe extended his scoring streak to six games.
Hear from copitar and head coach Todd McLellan after today’s game.
Anze Kopitar
About his general thoughts on today’s game
I mean, I thought we played a good game, solid in all three zones, but maybe a bit unlucky because we didn’t get the bounces. They played a tight game in their D-zone so he has to be given credit but we might just have missed a few shots but that’s going to happen. There’s a lot of positives we can pull out of this one and carry into the next.
See if he liked the reaction the group showed after conceding the first goal
Yeah, you know, like I said, we had a good ozone time, we just couldn’t get it to work. The goalkeeper there played well and as I said, give them credit where credit is due.
How line shuffling affects a player’s game
I mean he’s just trying to find something to maybe score a goal but unfortunately tonight it didn’t work out.
How the mentality changes when chances come but goals don’t
Try to simplify, don’t try to be too cute, bring a lot of stuff to the web. The goal we scored was maybe a foot from the goal line where I scored it. Sometimes when things aren’t going well, you just try to take it there and create something out of a mess.
Todd McLellan
When he got the close game with the lower goals he was expecting this morning
Yes we got what we expected. You know, we’re going without points here, but I thought we made a pretty good game. We played hard, we created a lot of chances, I’m sure their goalkeeper was probably the first star. We just have to find a way to convert, and some nights it doesn’t work out that way. I didn’t think we had a lot of passengers, we had everyone busy with the game so we’ll book it, we’ll go ahead and try to recover for the next one
To the team that finds a spark late in the first period, in the second
We did, I think we drew a little bit of energy from being offside. After that, the penalty did its job and then we drove off and had some energy. Unfortunately we didn’t get the first one and they’re a tough side to play against when they get the lead, it reminds me a lot of our side.
To the Kings, who are sometimes too cute offensively in the game
I think especially at the beginning of the third there was like a 10 minute period where we were trying to get it through five guys. It worked early in the game when we went to the pads and we could find rebounds and take our chances that way and we probably wasted seven to ten minutes of the third. When we figured it out again, it started to come our way, but just not enough.
About blending lines in the third and what he was looking for in that situation
Well we’re at an interesting point as a team right now, we have four lines that I think can score or a significant number of players on those lines that can score. Some players created chances, some didn’t, so we looked for the best offensive combinations we could find. Our team is deep at the moment, it’s not set up in a traditional way because you have some prolific wingers on the third or fourth line and we’re trying to give them opportunities to put their stamp on the game.
Remarks –
– Anze Kopitar scored his 19th goal of the season, extending his scoring streak to three games. Kopitar has scored a total of seven goals in his last nine games.
– Adrian Kempe provided an assist to extend his points streak into a sixth game with a total of 11 points (8-3-11) in that span. Kempe’s current streak matches his career from October 31, 2021 to November 11, 2021 (6GP, 4-3-7).
– Sean Durzi collected an assist to extend his points streak to four games (0-4-4). With his helper, Durzi passed the 30-point mark for the first time in his career.
– Defender Drew Doughty iced the kings in time (26:09) while Kopitar stepped all forward (20:53).
– Goaltender Pheonix Copley made 18 saves from 20 shots as he lost for the fourth time in regulation in 24 appearances with the Kings this season.
The Kings are scheduled to practice tomorrow at 2 p.m. at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.