The Los Angeles Kings (5-4-4) couldn’t overcome a slow start offensively and fell 4-1 to the New Jersey Devils (9-3-0) on Saturday night at Crypto.com Arena. Despite scoring their lone goal in the third period, the Kings' search for their first home win of the season continues.
Andrei Kuzmenko scored the only goal for the Kings, but it wasn’t enough to spark a comeback.
First Period: Devils Strike Early
The Los Angeles Kings went down 1-0 early in the match to the New Jersey Devils at home. The Devils' captain, Nico Hischier, opened the scoring just over a minute into the period, finishing the goal from a setup by Luke Hughes, giving the Devils the early edge.
The Kings did a good job on goal, outshooting the Devils 14-8, but failed to generate any goals or quality scoring chances against a very disciplined Devils defense. The positive from the first period was that the Kings didn’t take any penalties in the opening frame and didn’t give up multiple goals in the first period, something they love surrendering with nine goals in 13 1st periods this season.
Kings were aggressive on offense, but needed a stronger stretch to score if they wanted to match the Devils' top offense. The defense did do a good job in the first, limiting New Jersey’s top offense from scoring more than one goal.
But the Devils are a great all-around team, ranking in the top five on both offense and defense. So, going in, it was going to be a challenging task for the Kings, even playing at home, to pull off the upset, where they hadn’t won a game yet.
Second Period: Kings Fall Behind
New Jersey doubled their lead in the second period with Brian Halonen scoring late in the period to extend the Devils' advantage. Despite the Kings outshooting the visiting team 32-19, the Kings have yet to find a shot in the net to go in.
Goaltender Jack Markstrom was excellent through the entire game, turning aside every opportunity the Kings had at scoring goals, including several strong looks from Brandt Clarke and Alex Laferriere.
Los Angeles had a power-play chance but failed to score against the Avalanche, as the Devils' defense crowded the net. The Kings failed to match New Jersey’s offensive intensity.
This game shows how the Kings can compete with anyone; it’s just not going their way, despite so many scoring opportunities. And, whenever it comes time, it’s already too late because they fall behind too much early on and run out of gas when the game goes into overtime.
Third Period: Devils Close The Door
The third period sealed the fate for the Kings as the Devils added the final insurance goal to take the 4-1 victory and get back in the win column.
Los Angeles managed to score their only goal of the game in the third period, but by then the momentum and scoreboard were already far off, and the Devils capped off the win with an empty-net tally to end the game.
End of story, the Kings struggled to sustain pressure in the offensive zone, while the Devils remained sharp defensively and disciplined all night.
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