LOS ANGELES –– The Kings hosted Lakers night at Crypto.com Arena on Saturday, and they displayed some serious “Mamba mentality” in the early part of a 4-0 victory over the Detroit Red Wings.
The Kings tied a franchise record for shots on goal in a period with 27 in the first 20 minutes. They also got first-period goals, fittingly, from No. 8 Drew Doughty and No. 24 Phillip Danault, who wore the two numbers that Kobe Bryant sported during his Lakers career.
“Tremendous start, we were on our toes, getting to a lot of loose pucks, winning faceoffs and playing the way we wanted to play,” said Todd McLellan, who also praised an early breakaway save by Cal Petersen and critiqued the latter 40 minutes of his team’s effort.
Winger Adrian Kempe scored shorthanded and forward Trevor Moore added an empty-net goal. Winger Dustin Brown had two assists to extend his point streak to three games, which left him one point shy of 700 for his career. Petersen made 21 saves for his second career shutout and his first since Nov. 19, 2018.
The Kings’ previous 27-shot period came on Jan. 7, 2010 when they also hosted Detroit, which won the game anyway behind 51 saves from Jimmy Howard. The 27-2 shot disparity equaled the largest this season when Florida out-shot Washington 27-2 on Nov. 30, 2021.
Detroit’s current goalie, Alex Nedeljkovic, was busy Saturday and came up with 38 saves, including 25 in the first period.
“For me personally, that was the exact opposite (first) period that I would have wanted for my first game after a month,” said Petersen, who last appeared on Dec. 6. “Credit to the guys, we kind of stomped out of the game right away and so I think that really helped me out.”
The Kings had no shortage of near misses in the first period, including a goal disallowed on video review and a brilliant play by Sean Durzi that nearly turned into a rebound goal for Lias Andersson.
Just 90 seconds into the match, the Kings appeared to open the scoring on a one-timer by Lemieux that hit the post, then one of Nedeljkovic’s skates and then the other before defenseman Tobias Bjornfot attempted to stuff the puck into the net for good measure. But a video review determined that the puck did not fully cross the goal line at any point during the play.
“The tenacity and the hunt mentality were there early in the game and patience went along with it. We didn’t get away from that once the goal wasn’t counted,” McLellan said. “We had one full period of hunt, retrieve, get it back and do it all over.”
But unlike in recent games where they carried possession with little to show for it, this time the Kings’ effort produced results. They struck twice in the span of less than three minutes between the 6:27 and 9:06 marks.
First, aggressive play and quick puck movement between four forwards got them a goal just after their first power play expired. Moore hit Brown with a pass, Brown sent the puck across the crease for Arthur Kalyiev for a low shot that created a rebound that turned into Danault’s sixth goal of the season.
Next, they would extend their lead off the rush. Brown moved the puck to center Rasmus Kupari, who slammed on the brakes and turned the puck back to Doughty for a one-timer that zipped through traffic for his fourth goal of the campaign.
Danault fought Detroit captain Dylan Larkin, who cross-checked Danault, after the faceoff that followed the Kings’ second goal. It was Danault’s third career fight and the first this season by a Kings player other than winger Brendan Lemieux. Danault finished an assist short of a Gordie Howe hat trick.
“I put some pressure on my winger for that,” Danault said in jest after the game.
Petersen added that he was surprised by Danault’s scrappiness, joking that “I guess I know not to mess with him moving forward.”
The Kings threatened numerous times in the second period and had a goal disallowed due a player clearly positioned offside. Defenseman Mikey Anderson also rocked Detroit forward Robby Fabbri with one of his five hits of the evening.
They would pad their lead by way of a shorthanded goal with 3:37 left in the frame. Defenseman Matt Roy backhanded a rolling puck out of the Kings’ zone to Kempe, who dashed ahead and snapped a wrist shot to the far side for his team-leading 15th goal.
In the third period, more physical play punctuated a stanza in which Detroit showed some desperation. That included pulling their goalie with about four minutes to play, leading to Moore’s uncontested empty-net goal with 2:31 remaining.
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January 09, 2022 at 01:23PM
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