A bad third period saw the Kings fall 7-4 to the Golden Knights on Saturday. Hear from Todd McLellan and Viktor Arvidsson postgame.
After a strong start, the Los Angeles Kings completely fell apart in the third period of their 7-4 loss against the Vegas Golden Knights.
The Kings went into the third period up 4-3 before losing the third 4-0. The period also included three penalties which made it difficult for the Kings to gain any momentum to mount a comeback.
The big surprise in warmups was the Kings' decision to go with 11 forwards and seven defensemen in the absence of Artur Kaliyev.
"First time we've tried 11 and seven in a long, long time," said Todd McLellan postgame. "Based on some of the circumstances we'll face throughout the year, we may have to do it. So, it's good for the players to experience. I would prefer not to do it, but we may be forced to do it sometimes. So, if you're frustrated, tough luck, figure out how we're going to get through it."
Todd did confirm that playing 11/7 Saturday doesn't mean that's what they'll do on Wednesday against the Colorado Avalanche.
"I don't know what we'll go with yet," said McLellan. "But we wanted to try 11 and seven tonight just to get a feel for it. We're going to be 12 and six or 11 and seven, that's all we have. We've got to figure that part over the next few days. Again, we purposely chose to go 11 and seven today to expose the players, and us as coaches, to how it would feel. How the rotation would effect individuals, how they would react, and I think rhythm is really important in a game and in a team. It didn't feel like we had a lot of rhythm. But we'll learn."
As the final preseason game for the team, this felt like a dress rehearsal for the opening night. There's still some time to fix things, but not much.
"I think we start games good and then we kind of wear off," said Viktor Arvidsson when asked where the team is at heading into the season opener. "I think we need to stay aggressive and play a full 60 minutes. I don't think we've done that, we have to do that on Wednesday."
Arvidsson was then asked what he would attribute the inability to pay a full 60 minutes too.
"Penalties," said Arvidsson. "I think we take way too many penalties, I think eight minutes straight in the third period. You lose guys on the bench, you overuse guys and they get tired, we have to stay out of the box."
The penalty issues were then brought up to McLellan in the post game and he was asked how easily the team can clean them up before Wednesday.
"They aren't easily cleaned up because, in some cases, we've been trying to do it for a year and a half," said McLellan. "So, obviously, it's not easy. I think there's an opportunity to correct some things. But, at the end of the day, there's probably one way we can correct that and it's welding somebodies ass to the bench. And we may get to that eventually."
McLellan was then asked if he had anyone in mind when talking about welding asses to benches.
"It depends on who's taking the bad ones," said McLellan.
The first player who came to my mind when thinking of bad penalties is Kevin Fiala. However, as McLellan has said in the past, everyone is treated fair, not necessarily equal. I think that's what he means in that quote.
Fiala probably won't be welded to the bench after a bad penalty, but some players will be.