No need to dwell on the Kings loss to the New Jersey Devils on Thursday, because the team quickly put that game behind them and played one of their best games of the year on Saturday morning against the New York Rangers. Going up against the Rangers, who were 3-8-0 in their last 11 games and had traded away their captain just over a week ago, the Kings jumped them early, often and kept the pressure on throughout the game.
The Kings put the Rangers on their back feet immediately on Saturday with their speed and tenacity, and were rewarded just over seven minutes into the game. Beginning in their own defensive zone, the Kings broke out beautifully and took advantage of a poor pinch from a Rangers defensemen. A 2-on-1 for the Kings ensued and Adrian Kempe fed Alex Turcotte with a perfectly timed backdoor pass, giving the Kings a 1-0 lead and Turcotte his third goal of the season. Eight more minutes of Kings pressure went by and Warren Foegele doubled the lead. Set up by Quinton Byfield, the former second overall draft pick in 2020 shook a Rangers defenseman below their goal line, fed Foegele in slot and the first-year King followed his rebound, ultimately finding the loose puck to score his eighth goal of the season. After 20 minutes, the Kings led 2-0 and 17-8 in shots.
The Kings picked up where they left off in the first period and quickly potted three goals to break the game open. Coming in a 2:18 span, Byfield, Kempe and Danault each found the back the net, chasing the Rangers Igor Shesterkin from the game. It began with a clean offensive zone entry by Foegele who hit Byfield with a short pass in the slot and the center buried his second point of the game with his fourth goal of the season. Just 1:54 later, the Kings top line of Anze Kopitar, Kempe and Turcotte teamed up and went tic-tac-toe for a highlight reel goal making it 4-0. Then, 24 seconds after that, a clean breakout by Kevin Fiala sprung the Kings for another easy zone exit and entry and an eventual shot on the rush byu Brandt Clarke rebounded to Phillip Danault, who promptly put it in the net for his third goal of the year. Shesterkin’s day was officially over after 25:04 of play and the future Hall of Famer and former King Jonathan Quick came into the game in relief. The Rangers did respond after their goalie change and Filip Chytil got the home team on the board just past the halfway point of the game.
The following 27:43 went scoreless as the aforementioned Quick stopped all 13 Kings shots, Darcy Kuemper was outstanding again, stopping 31 of 32 Rangers shots.
