The Los Angeles Kings suffered another disappointing loss after losing their season opener, falling in overtime to the San Jose Sharks on a game-winning goal.
The Los Angeles Kings (0-1-1) fought in the final period, forcing overtime on the road against the San Jose Sharks (2-0-0), but couldn't stop forward Igor Chernyshov, who finished with two goals, including the go-ahead overtime winner, to give the Sharks a 5-4 victory at home.
Multiple Kings played well tonight offensively, with four different players scoring a goal and multiple points. Brandt Clarke, Erik Haula, Artemi Panarin, and Quinton Byfield had big nights, sparking the comeback after the team trailed by two goals in the third period, but the defense once again fell short.
With this loss, the Kings are now one of five teams in the Western Conference that remain winless, not a good start to the season for the silver and black, but playing their first two games on the road is hard for any team in the league.
Things looked good for the Kings to start the game, with Panarin tossing it to Kempe to draw first blood and score their first power-play goal of the season at the 4:10 mark, giving LA a comfortable 1-0 lead.
The Silver and Black had plenty of bright spots, with the offense finally looking like it could outscore its opponent and win, but turnovers and goaltending have been major negatives in the first two games.
Anton Forsberg was solid starting under the crease, taking Darcy Kuemper's spot in the lineup, but he allowed three big goals in the second period, putting LA down by two, and didn't make a meaningful save.
The Sharks outscored the visiting team 3-1 in the second period with back-to-back goals coming from the rush, where the Kings have already struggled to stop them at the start of the season. But the visiting team closed out the final seconds of the period well, after Byfield sniped a massive goal with 1.2 seconds left, cutting the deficit to one.
The final period was a back-and-forth affair, with both teams trading goals after Chernoyshov gave the Sharks a two-goal lead. The Kings answered back-to-back, with Haula and Panarin both scoring to tie it 4-4, outscoring the home team 2-1 and forcing extra periods at the SAP Center.
Offense was the big difference for the Kings getting back in this game; it looked much better tonight and should keep improving as the season continues. Statistically and by the eye test, the Kings were the better team tonight, including in overtime, but they came away with just one point tonight.
However, in overtime, the visiting team's defense once again showed that its weakest link is defense and goaltending, failing to stop San Jose on the ice and losing another heartbreaker on the road.
The game was a defensive struggle, as in the season opener against the Avs, which gave up eight goals, but the offense was much better tonight, especially the Kempe-Byfield-Panarin line.
Key Stats
Kings' head coach, Peter Laviolette, is still figuring things out, but time will run out in LA soon if they struggle defensively like this all season. The offense looks fresher and more structured, but if the defense and goaltending aren't on point, the offense can't offset all the problems the Kings face.
Forsberg finished with 20 saves on 25 shots, but didn't make a game-changing save to help the Kings' offense win in overtime. A big bright spot was Haula, who scored his first goal as a member of the Kings and is fitting in very well in the Kings' offense so far.
But the good news for the Kings is that they will have their home opener on Tuesday against the Florida Panthers at 7:00 P.M. PT, looking to get their first win of the season in front of their home crowd.
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