Kings end roadie 0-2 with baffling loss in Colorado

Entering Wednesday’s game with a 15-4-1 record immediately following a loss with Jim Hiller as LA’s bench boss should have been encouraging for a Kings team looking to get back on track. Having won two of their last three games in Colorado should have added to the pre-game positivity as well. Then, Adrian Kempe scored just 32 seconds after the puck drop Thursday night at Ball Arena, which should have further boosted confidence up and down the Kings bench.

Exactly why it went sour is still a bit unclear. Despite the Avs tying the score early in P1, Kempe came back and scored his second goal of the night to give his team a 2-1 halftime lead. However, the first wheel fell off that train after LA went the entire middle frame without a single shot on goal.

When the second halftime rolled around, Colorado had tied the game 2-2; despite the fact that it could have been a far more serious situation. And then another wheel came off. Less than five minutes into P3, Darcy Kuemper appeared to injure himself, exiting the race and letting David Rittich take over on the grid. While the latter only gave up one goal in relief, it was Mikko Rantanen’s second marker of the night and proved to be the game-winner. Almost all the steam came out of LA after 20 minutes of play. Whatever puffs of smoke remained evaporated by then.

After a healthy diet of road games and a fairly compact schedule, LA now returns home to play Detroit, Buffalo and Seattle. They will only have three games over an 11-day period. Maybe Hiller will have a few fresh ideas to work on during practices sprinkled in over that run, because this stretch of three losses in four games (including last week’s loss at the hands of Vancouver) isn’t the type of “good” losses most NHL coaches will accept.

Lineup Notes: As mentioned in Wednesday’s pregame article (linked below for reference), Trevor Moore played on the top line alongside Kempe and Anze Kopitar. As they did during the second half of Monday’s game in Calgary, the trio was jumping and making things happen. Kempe’s goals were both assisted by his two linemates. Aside from Kempe, the only Kings skater who had more than a single shot on goal was Andre Lee, who recorded two. Kopitar led in faceoffs, winning 77% of his draws; Phil Danault won 64% and Quinton Byfield won 50% – he also took the second most draws (16), trailing only Kopitar (26).

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Expected lineups: LA Kings at Colorado Avalanche, rolling with Top Line Trevor

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Main photo by Isaiah J. Downing

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