© Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports
Three Takeaways From Kings' 4-1 Victory Over Coyotes
The Los Angeles Kings continued their road winning streak on Monday, beating the Arizona Coyotes 4-1 at Mullet Arena.
It was another hot start for the Kings who took a 1-0 lead just 3:36 in courtesy of a Trevor Moore shorthanded goal.
They extended the lead to two five minutes later through Anze Kopitar. Kopitar's goal was all about Quinton Byfield's assist though.
After some strong forechecking from the entire line, Byfield picked up the puck and attacked the center of the ice. He then curl and dragged a defenseman before sliding over a great backhand feed to Kopitar who had an empty net.
Moore put the Kings up three late in the second period on a great individual effort. Moore knocked down a Matias Maccelli pass in the slot and then snapped one home over Connor Ingram in front.
Lawson Crouse then got the Coyotes on the board a few minutes later.
Phil Danault gave the Kings an insurance goal, finishing off a nice feed from Alex Laferriere late in the third.
Here are three takeaways from the game:
Pheonix Copley With a Strong Performance:
Cam Talbot has cemented himself as the Kings' number-one goalie, but the Kings still need Pheonix Copley to find his game and become a reliable backup.
The start hasn't been ideal for Copley, but Monday's game was a step in the right direction.
By the numbers, it was one of the best games a Kings goalie has played this season. He finished with 30 saves and an impressive 3.42 goals saved above expected.
The Kings were a little loose defensively a few times, especially on the power play, and gave up an uncharacteristic amount of grade-A chances.
Copley was equal to the task for most of the night though. It's been tough for Copley to find his rhythm, starting once every 4-5 games, but this should be a good confidence boost for him.
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Facing a back-to-back this weekend, he'll get another game this week and might be able to build some momentum.
After his strong performance, I wouldn't be surprised to see him start Friday against Anaheim. Maybe we'll finally get the Copley vs. John Gibson fight we were robbed of last year.
Trevor Moore Back in the Goal Column:
The first line has taken a lot of the attention recently, but let's not forget how good Moore's played to start this season.
He grabbed his eighth and ninth goal of the season on Monday, tying him with Kopitar for the team lead.
The turnaround in Moore's shooting really is incredible. He's consistently underperformed his expected goals so far in his career and is now on pace for 42 goals.
I don't know if he'll get there, his 19.1 shooting percentage feels unsustainable, but he feels like a lock to shatter his career-high of 17.
There's also the complete game Moore brings to highlight. He's one of the best puck-hunters on the team and is defensively great.
A lot of people called his contract an overpay, and it looked like it might be after a tough, injury-ridden season last year. Now he looks underpaid.
The Penalty Kill Streak Lives:
We can never again doubt the impact of Jim Hiller. After drastically improving the power play last season, Hiller now has the Kings' penalty kill clocking at 90.16%, good for second in the league.
There are a lot of factors at play here. The King's goaltending has improved, they added a good penalty killer in Trevor Lewis and they've implemented a new system.
By themselves, I doubt these factors would have been enough to make a significant change. But together, they've allowed the Kings to turn their biggest weakness into one of their biggest strengths.
The Kings have gone seven straight games and 26 penalty kills without giving up a goal.
They've also scored three shorthanded goals in that span. Now that the power play is finding its groove too, the Kings are developing one of the best special teams in all of hockey.
