The Kings Had Many Miscues In Their Loss to the Penguins

LOS ANGELES — The Kings controlled many aspects of this game but still lost 5-2 to the Penguins. There are many of the mistakes Los Angeles caused that led to their own downfall.

Straight from the puck drop, the Kings came out of this game flat, which allowed Pittsburgh to take advantage. Tommy Novak hit the first two goals of the game and gave the Penguins a 2-0 lead in the first period.

“It’s on the room not being ready to go, Mikey Anderson said. “It’s hard to dig out of a hole when it happens that fast.”

While the Kings responded in a more desperate effort, it wasn’t enough to get the pucks in the net. Despite Los Angeles having nine more shots on goal, Sergei Murashov was a brick wall in front of the net. Murashov had a .926 save percentage and 26 saves.

Early momentum and goaltending was enough for the Penguins to withstand any comeback attempt from the Kings. The Kings offense couldn’t take advantage of a Pittsburgh team that has struggled on defense.

Heading into the game, the Penguins gave up 3.56 goals per game. This ranked as the fourth most goals allowed per game in the league. However, the Pittsburgh defense didn’t break against the Los Angeles offense.

Los Angeles didn’t have enough passes in slots which relied more on outside shots. So although the Kings had 28 shots on goal, most of them weren’t at the net.

“Pass up too many chances in the Ozone, and we had good movement and everything, Alex Laferriere said. “We just keep it on the perimeter. Nothing good is going to come from that, so yeah, I just think it's about getting to the hard areas and getting pucks there.”

Offensively, the Kings left points on the board and even gave up opportunities for the Penguins offense. Pittsburgh stole puck possessions and capitalized with goals of their own.

“If you don't execute what you're trying to do out there, it usually leads to opposition,” Coach Laviolette said. “Possible runs coming back at you, possible goals coming back at you, points coming back at you. So there’s things we definitely could’ve controlled better tonight.”

Defensively, the game plan was supposed to be simple for the Kings: win the physical battle against the Penguins. Los Angeles did have 29 hits compared to 11 hits from the Penguins, but this didn't change much.

Although the Kings dished out hits, they were not physical enough to limit good chances for Pittsburgh. The Penguins had clean shots from the perimeter and even shots at the net.

The Kings had more shots on goal, more hits and a higher face-off percentage, but ultimately still lost. Lapses at both ends of the ice led to the Kings turning their mistakes into goals for the Penguins. This was a game where the Kings beat themselves more so than the Penguins did.