In a sinewy race that has taken on the feel of a search to find the world’s tallest little person, the Kings shrunk again, losing 4-0 to the Arizona Coyotes at Staples Center Saturday.
Although the Kings have a points percentage that would put them in seventh place and out of the playoff picture in the other three divisions, they have had a fighting chance to qualify for the postseason because most of the West has stumbled and bumbled of late.
“We didn’t have it as a team. We didn’t have it physically. Emotionally we didn’t have it either; it was a little bit empty,” Kings Coach Todd McLellan said.
Now the Kings find themselves seven points behind Arizona for the final playoff spot and six behind fifth place St. Louis as the Blues won Saturday behind Ryan O’Reilly’s hat trick. Minnesota became the third West Division team to clinch a playoff spot with a victory over San Jose, which leads the Kings by one point. The Kings now face the Ducks for four straight games.
“We get a day off tomorrow, we come back and we play a game against our rivals,” McLellan said. “If that’s not motivating enough, if you can’t bring that self-pride to the rink and want to get better and prove that you belong. Everybody’s asking for more and wants more, let’s see it from you.”
Cal Petersen got the nod in net for the second straight night, an unusual sight for a team that’s alternated goalies on back-to-backs and in general this season. He was under heavy fire for much of the game and made 36 saves.
Center John Hayden, winger Lawson Crouse, defenseman Jakob Chychrun and winger Phil Kessel scored goals for Arizona. Darcy Kuemper stopped all 26 shots he faced for his second shutout of the season.
The Kings now have 11 games to either right the ship or improve their draft lottery odds. Saturday the exchange between forwards and defense were labored, and Kuemper’s shutout did not require much perspiration on his part.
“Playing with a lot more energy, playing with a lot more emotion,” Kopitar said. “I don’t think the connection is there where it needs to be to win these types of games.”
Kessel slathered on an insurance marker with just over seven minutes remaining in the game. He stole defenseman Mikey Anderson’s blind pass in the neutral zone, forging ahead for a wrist shot that defenseman Matt Roy deflected upon release, only to see it float far side high and past Petersen. It was Kessel’s team-leading 17th tally.
At the second intermission, the Kings trailed by two, and early in the third period they had to kill a penalty against defenseman Drew Doughty. Arizona entered the game with a negative-14 goal differential in third periods, and the Kings came in an eyelash behind third place league-wide on the penalty kill.
But those trends were not the Kings’ friends, as the power play afforded Chychrun the space to load up and launch a slap shot top shelf for his 14th goal of the season. He scored 4:19 into the period and now leads all NHL defensemen in goals this season.
A sluggish finish to the first period gave way to a second period that saw the Coyotes outright dominate possession for the better part of 20 minutes. A partial breakaway that winger Andreas Athanasiou slipped along the ice was probably the pinnacle of their period until a livelier final five minutes.
“The first half of the game was not good on our part,” sullen center Anze Kopitar said. “You can’t expect to win games when you play a period or half a game, I mean, yeah, we didn’t do a good job from the start, falling behind and we couldn’t catch up.”
Arizona hogged the puck–at one point they tripled up the Kings on period-two shots, 15-5–and their possession paid off immediately in the form of another goal 36 seconds into the middle stanza.
Some innocuous passing around the perimeter became dangerous with traffic in front. Defenseman Alex Goligoski, who also assisted on Chychrun’s goal, zapped a shot from the left point that was tipped in by Crouse for goal No. 4 of 2021.
In the opening frame the Kings treaded water early but saw the game tilting toward the Coyotes late to finish with the shot count in favor of Arizona, 12-6.
While the Coyotes played a methodical and meticulous game, the Kings also turned the puck over in their own zone. A defensive-zone turnover gave the Coyotes the game’s first goal with 7:13 left in the first.
A rim-around pass behind the Kings net was headed nowhere until it found the stick of Arizona center Lane Pederson. His quick pass to Hayden initiated a give-and-go play between forward Derick Brassard and Hayden, which Hayden finished for his first goal of the season.
“You’re trying to lead as best as you can, by example and vocally in the room. Ultimately it comes down to every single one of us to get prepared for a game however you’ve got to do it,” Kopitar said. “Bottom line we’ve just got to play better, with more desperation and more energy.”
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