The Kings returned home for a Thursday game against the Vancouver Canucks after a clean sweep of games against two Central Division opponents earlier this week. Hoping to add to their four-game point streak entering the night, the Kings fell in regulation despite a quick start.
The Kings started strong on Thursday as Quinton Byfield quickly made it goals in back-to-back games after burying his first goal of the season against the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday. Coming 1:43 into Thursday’s game, Byfield retrieved the puck from linemates Alex Laferriere and Warren Foegele at the Canucks blueline and proceeded to blow by both of Vancouver’s defensemen to reach the goalie alone. Byfield deked to his backhand and put the Kings up 1-0. Up a goal, the dynamics of the game took a turn just past the midway point of the first period when Tanner Jeannot was assessed a match penalty and was ejected from the game for a high hit on Vancouver’s Brock Boeser, resulting in a five-minute Canucks power play. There, Connor Garland evened the game on the man advantage.
The second period saw just one goal and it went in favor of the Canucks. A Quinn Hughes cross-ice seam pass in the Kings zone fed Jake Debrusk backdoor and with time and space in his favor, Debrusk deked Darcy Kuemper out of the net and put the puck in the net.
Enter period three and the Canucks again found the back of the net. Coming at the 2:44 mark, Hughes found space along the blue line in the Kings zone and ripped a shot through some traffic, beating Kuemper. Now down two, the Kings got back in the game with 6:03 remaining when Vladislav Gavrikov found the back of the net with a point shot of his own through a screen. Unable to pull closer, the Canucks buried an empty net goal to double up the Kings 4-2 by game’s end.
Kuemper stopped 19 of 22 shots faced and was handed his first regulation loss of the season as his record now sits at 4-1-3.
