The rest of the game was all Jets. Scoring five unanswered goals, the Jets line of Nikolaj Ehlers, Mark Scheifele and former King Gabriel Vilardi combined for all of the Jets offense. Each forward had a four-point night, Vilardi’s first of his career. The loss for the Kings moves their home record to 5-5-3.
Following the loss, the Kings then hit the road for a brief two-game road trip. Up against the Seattle Kraken for the first of three times this season, the Kings kicked off a stretch of seven straight important games against Pacific Division opponents. Playing their first road game since dropping back-to-back games in New York the previous weekend, the Kings and Kraken went the distance. The Kraken struck first early in the game, but the Kings responded with two goals of their own to take the lead. Trevor Moore evened the score in the first period with his team-leading 14th goal of the season and ninth goal on the road, the fifth most in the NHL. It was Kopitar on the power play for the second straight game who gave the Kings the lead in Seattle. A beautiful pass from Quinton Byfield set up Kopitar for the backdoor tap-in, his fifth power-play goal of the season and 12th total goal. Byfield's helped was his 15th assist and 23rd (8-15=23) point of the season, establishing a new single-season career high in points (3-19=22 in 2022-23).
An Oliver Bjorkstrand power-play goal knotted the game at 2-2 in the third period and sent the game into overtime. There, a unconverted Kings 4-on-3 power play sent the game into a shootout. Nine rounds later, it was Carl Grundstrom who delivered the knockout punch to earn the Kings two points.
Notable News From The Week That Was:
- Cam Talbot started both games for the Kings and went 1-1-0. Talbot picked up his 13th win of the season as his record now sits at 13-5-2.
- Pheonix Copley was injured during practice on Friday and needed assistance getting off the ice. Copley was subsequently placed on LTIR on Sunday.
- Jacob Moverare made his season debut for the Kings and played in both games this past week. He has since been assigned to the Ontario Reign and Tobias Bjornfot has been recalled from the Reign from his AHL conditioning stint.
- Multiple moves followed the Copley news as the Kings called up David Rittich from the Ontario Reign. Rittich held a record of 7-6-3-3 and had a .901 SV% for the Reign this season. Jacob Ingham, the Kings 2018 sixth-round draft pick was called up from the ECHL’s Greenville Swamp Rabbits to the Reign as well. Ingham was 11-2-0 with a .920 SV% with the Swamp Rabbits prior to his AHL call-up.
- The Kings continue to be stingy on defense and remain first in the NHL in defense, leading the league in goals against per game. The Kings average 2.41 goals against per game.
- Anze Kopitar (2-0=2), Quinton Byfield (0-2=2) and Kevin Fiala (0-2=2) each sat atop the points for the Kings this past week.
- The Kings power play went 2-for-8 in the two games, placing them 17th in the NHL (21.1%).
- The Kings penalty kill went 1-for-4 in the two of games, ranking them 2nd in the NHL (87.1%).
The Week That Is
Three important divisional games will take place for the Kings this week. Beginning with their second game of their current and brief two-game road trip, the Kings will face off against the San Jose Sharks in the Bay Area on Tuesday night. One night later, the Kings play the Seattle Kraken for the second time in week, this time at home, before finishing off the week’s games with a Saturday night battle against the Calgary Flames at Crypto.com Arena.
After a miserable 0-10-1 start to the season, the San Jose Sharks have turned things around and are playing much better hockey. Since getting their first win of the season in game 12, the Sharks are 9-9-2 and have gotten out of the basement of the NHL standings. Not to be overlooked one bit, the Kings will see the Sharks for the first of four times this season on Tuesday night at The Tank. While the Sharks currently rank last in the NHL in goals for per game (2.13) and goals against per game (3.90), the Sharks have been better as of late. Dating back to November 25th, the Sharks rank 10th in GF/GP (3.27) and are up to 23rd in GA/GP (3.36). Despite a record of 9-19-3, the Sharks have been sturdy at home. In their 14 home games so far, the Sharks are 6-6-2. From a personnel perspective, Mikael Granlund has had the hot hand as of late. In his last eight games, Granlund has 14 points (2-12=14) and is a +5.
Following the Sharks game on Tuesday, the Kings will travel home the second half of a back-to-back. So far this season, the Kings are 1-1-2 on the second half of a back-to-back. As for their opponent, the Kings will see a familiar face in the Seattle Kraken. Having faced them just four days ago come Wednesday night, the Kings will look earn another two points in their second of three meetings this season. With $16.9M of players missing from their lineup due to injuries on IR or LTIR (Phillip Grubauer, Jaden Schwartz, Andre Burakovsky), the Kraken’s depth has been tested. The Kraken’s offense has struggled, ranking 28th in scoring (2.69 GF/GP). The Kraken currently sit four points outside of the playoffs, but have earned points in four of their last five games (2-2-1).
Finishing off the week’s games will be another home game against the Calgary Flames. The 12-14-5 Flames sit one point ahead of the Kraken and are just outside of the playoffs as it stands. Having picked up points in six of their last 10 games, the Flames have done it by going into overtime and beyond. Four of those six games they’ve earned points in have come in overtime or a shootout, picking up two overtime victories, an overtime loss and a shootout loss. One to watch out for on the Flames is Yegor Sharangovich. Sharangovich came to the Flames in the offseason as a part of the trade that sent former King Tyler Toffoli to the New Jersey Devils. The 6–2, 196-pound, 25-year-old has recorded 19 points (11-8=19) in 31 games this season, but is currently riding a five-game goal streak and six-game point streak (6-2=8).
Upcoming games this week:
