What the Los Angeles Kings and Arizona Coyotes delivered at Crypto.com Arena on Saturday night was a feast for any hockey fan, but arguably every coach’s nightmare. After the first third, the Kings seemed to lead 5:1, only to lose this comfortable lead completely in the following period.
“I think of course it’s a big trap when you take the lead by a large margin in the first third. You can get a bit careless there,” was the explanation from Phillip Danault.
After a goalless overtime and the score was 5:5, an all-important penalty shoot-out ensued, which the hosts were able to win in the end and were able to make up for the negligence beforehand. In any case, a spectacle will be remembered that left no one cold who was able to watch it or who was directly involved.
“It shows that we still have a lot of work ahead of us,” was the sobering conclusion of Kings coach Todd McLellan despite the win. “That doesn’t happen to teams of championship quality or caliber.”
“It’s not that simple,” opined Matt Roy. “I thought we played a great first third. But on the other hand, it was a team that won’t be beaten and plays on their identity. They have to be given a lot of credit for that. I think we might have done better to stop them early on. Unfortunately we didn’t do that, we conceded a few penalties and they took advantage of that. We were lucky to win the shootout tonight.”
The Swiss Kevin Fiala for his part, was one of the match winners of the day from a double perspective. Not only that he might be happy regarding the two points because of the happy outcome of the game for his team, Fiala was instrumental in the fact that the Kings had reason to celebrate in the end with two goals and one assist.
Video: LAK 6, ARI 5 SO
In addition to Fiala, Los Angeles was able to rely in particular on the services of Anze Kopitar, Blake Lizotte and Roy, who each recorded a goal and an assist for the Kings (32-18-7). Veteran Kopitar has ten points (three goals, seven assists) in the last five games.
goalkeeper Jonathan Quick, who picked up his first NHL win since December 1, when Arizona also held the upper hand once morest the Coyotes, must have been relieved as well. Quick won his 369th NHL game, tying goalie legend Tom Barrasso’s third-most wins by an American-born goaltender behind Ryan Miller (391) and John Vanbiesbrouck (374).
Gabriel Vilardi and Adrian Kempe scored the two goals in the shootout for Los Angeles. On the other hand, Quick parried the shot from Nick Schmaltz with the bottom of his stick and the try of Nick Bjugstad went wide of the target, giving the Kings the better end. “It was an incredible save,” McLellan said of his goalkeeper. “He’s a fighter type and just when you think you’ve beaten him something pops out, be it a leg, a glove or a stick.”
It was cold consolation for the Coyotes that the team was able to extend their current point streak to eight games (4-0-4) thanks to the 5-5 following regulation time. Nevertheless, those involved emphasized the positive approaches. “Poor start, learned from that and we showed a good reaction in the next 40 minutes. I think we can take the momentum into tomorrow’s game once morest the Columbus Blue Jackets,” said the Arizona forward, for example Christian Fischerwho was also among the scorers.
After the three points from Friday’s game once morest the Anaheim Ducks, Fiala scored three points once more the following evening. While the forward had a goal and two assists at the Honda Center, it was exactly the reverse once morest Arizona. In any case, his season goals number 20 and 21 underlined the strong form in which Fiala is currently. It is the second time this season that he has scored at least three points in two consecutive games (3-0-3, Jan 7 at Vegas Golden Knights, 2-2-4, Jan 9 vs Edmonton Oilers) . Fiala is also now the first Kings player since Zigmund Palffy (22 goals, 38 assists in 52 games in 1999/2000) to have at least 60 points in his first 60 games with the team (21 goals, 40 assists in 57 games). .
The 26-year-old scored once morest the Coyotes to make it 1-0 (9th) and 5-1 (16th). In the meantime, Kopitar (10th), Lizotte (12th; Fiala assisted) and Roy (15th) were also successful for the Californians, so that the Kings, despite the interim goal from Josh Brown (10.) to 1:1 probably already on the sure road to victory.
However, the home side evidently relied too much on their clear lead following the first 20 minutes and tried to save too much energy following they had beaten the Ducks only 24 hours earlier (6:3). Two goals once morest Clayton Keller (36., pp and 41.), as well as hits from Travis Boyd (48′) and Fischer (48′) within 44 seconds made the final phase a real nail-biter.
Despite the fourth win in a row, nobody on the Kings side was really happy with the performance. “That lead tonight came regarding very quickly,” McLellan warned. “It happened, bang, bang, bang, one following the other. And from that point on we became extremely casual. I’m not sure how we can improve that in training. The reaction has to come from the team.”
Conversely, Arizona was satisfied with his response following going behind. “That’s what defines us,” coach Andre Tourigny praised his players despite the unfortunate final. “At the end of the day it’s a good thing because we’re very proud to be fighting so hard and working so hard. … The lads really got into it and found a way back into the encounter.”
The biggest winners of this game in Los Angeles, however, were probably the neutral spectators, who were offered a first-class sporting thriller and who were entertained that evening with great goals. In the shadow of the NHL Stadium Series 2023, this was a great advertisement for ice hockey in general and the NHL in particular from both teams.