Kings shut out for 1st time this season in loss to Maple Leafs – Orange County Register

Jan 3, 2024 | Canyon Crest Guide Newspaper | 0 comments

LOS ANGELES — Kings coach Todd McLellan has resisted the temptation – and the suggestion – to tinker with his forward lines significantly this season.

But even he could wait no longer than the middle of Tuesday night’s 3-0 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs at Crypto.com Arena to make wholesale reconfigurations, and to little avail.

“I thought we played better after that, but it was too late,” McLellan said.

Cam Talbot continued to pull his weight, denying 26 of 28 Toronto shots, but the Kings were shut out for the first time this season and have lost three straight games for just the second time this season. Both slumps were part of their past 11 games, of which they’ve won just four. That timing has been inopportune since second-place Vegas has lost five of its past six, with its lone win in that span coming against the Kings.

William Nylander opened the scoring and capped it with an empty-net goal. In between, Calle Järnkrok also scored. Tyler Bertuzzi had two assists. Goalie Martin Jones made 31 saves and earned his 23rd career win against his one-time club, nine more than he has against any other franchise. It was his second shutout of the season for Toronto, the fourth organization with which he has faced his former cohorts, whom he said taught him a lot about “how to carry (himself) and how to be a pro.”

At times on Tuesday, the Kings could have used a refresher course.

“One team was fast and one team was slow, for sure in the first half of the game. … Our passing was very erratic, in (skates) and behind people,” said McLellan, who critiqued his team’s alertness and pointed out that they allowed two goals off blown faceoff coverage “again.”

“Toronto caused a lot of our problems, but L.A. contributed to them as well,” he added.

In the final 20 minutes, the Kings got a jolt from Andreas Englund’s fight against Simon Benoit, but they couldn’t seize on that or any other momentum. They ultimately built a shot advantage and reclaimed some territory, but never recovered from a vast disadvantage in the quality of chances through the first 40.

Nylander sealed their fate with an empty-net goal in the final minute, giving him two goals in the game and 50 points for the campaign to move him into a tie for fifth in the NHL.

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With 13:59 to play, the Kings appeared to halve their lead thanks to the persistence of Quinton Byfield, but his swiping goal was nullified because the officials determined that the stick of a Kings player had pushed the pad of Jones and the puck into the net, constituting goaltender interference.

“The puck was covered and it was jammed in. They really don’t explain that to us, we get to decide whether or not we want to challenge it,” McLellan said.

The second period saw the Leafs find their game and the Kings lose their way, finishing with a 2-0 count in favor of the visitors and with the hosts’ lines pureed, chopped, mixed and blended.

In the most drastic shuffling of his forward lines this season, McLellan made sweeping changes, even breaking up his top line to drop Adrian Kempe onto Pierre-Luc Dubois’ flank. Each of the first three lines had at least one new member after the Leafs scored twice in a tick over three minutes.

“We had nothing going. Throughout the lineup, we had nothing going,” McLellan said. “So, it was blender time, and it was probably the first time this year that we’ve really done that, to that extent.”

At the 8:14 mark, the Leafs stretched their advantage, instants after the Kings technically killed their second penalty. As with their first goal allowed, a defensive-zone draw win gave way to a failed breakout and a giveaway. As a vigorous puck battle unfolded at the right-wing wall, the Kings lost coverage completely in the slot, where Järnkrok awaited the puck between the circles before finishing with a backhand goal.

On Toronto’s first goal, the Kings won a defensive-zone faceoff but heavy forecheck pressure on Kevin Fiala and Vladislav Gavrikov made their breakout effort labored and ultimately forced a turnover. Bertuzzi and John Tavares went to work low, setting up Nylander’s driving finish from just above the blue paint.

“It was the same thing, it was a little disconnected with the passing and completion of plays,” said Mikey Anderson, urging heightened awareness. “Those are mistakes. If we win a faceoff, we’ve got to be able to get it out or at least not let it go in.”

The first period was sluggish for the Kings, who were being out-attempted by roughly double when they drew the game’s first penalty. They frittered away more than a minute of their power play just trying to get set up and failed to hit the net once they did.

“Today we didn’t get down in the first but still, we had momentum coming at us a little bit,” Anderson said. “Obviously, we’ve got to find a way to put a few in and score a couple goals.”

Arthur Kaliyev was a healthy scratch for the Kings. The Russian forward is in a 10-game goal drought.

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