The wins became a streak when the Kings took a drive they know very well down the I-5 to visit the rival Anaheim Ducks last Friday.
Heading into the game against Anaheim, Kings’ goalie David Rittich had started six straight games in net in the absence of Darcy Kuemper, who has been dealing with injury issues all season long and was sidelined once again. Kuemper had done well, but the Kings still sought to give him a break in favor of not running him into the ground.
So, knowing they had a matchup on tap against Anaheim, the Kings turned to rookie Erik Portillo to give Rittich a break.
Portillo performed brilliantly in his NHL debut. He faced 29 shots and stopped 28 to put the Kings in a brilliant position to win.
And it was much-needed on a night that the Kings struggled to get anything going offensively. They managed only 18 shots on goal all night.
Luckily, two of them went in. After Anaheim opened the scoring early in the second period, the only mulligan on Portillo’s record, right winger Alex Laferriere scooped up a Ducks turnover and found center Alex Turcotte on the two-on-one, and Turcotte buried the puck into the top of the net to tie the game.
Lafferiere also scored later in the contest to break the tie. It’s been a breakout season for the young phenom, who has nearly matched his point total from last season, when he played in 81 games, in only 26 games so far this season. It was also greatly appreciated both by a struggling Kings offense and by Portillo, who picked up his first NHL win in the Kings’ 2-1 victory.
Portillo needed full effort until the very end when he extended his toe to disrupt a shot by Troy Terry with mere seconds left in the game to preserve the victory.
Rittich didn’t get the entire night off, as he had to temporarily step in when Portillo had a skate issue and ended up stopping two shots. But for the bulk of the night, Portillo greatly lightened the load for Rittich, who was back in goal the very next night against the Ottawa Senators.
Back at home against Ottawa, the Kings rebounded offensively after their slow night in Anaheim, lighting the lamp five times to outpace the Sens 5-2. Captain Anže Kopitar, left winger Trevor Moore and left winger Kevin Fiala each had a goal and an assist for the Kings, and Rittich stopped 20 of 22 shots to make sure the Kings’ five goals were more than enough.
Laferriere also scored a goal to continue his excellent play as of late. LA’s third-straight win had already marked its longest win streak of the season.
But Wednesday night, the Kings kept the good times rolling even further in one of their most memorable wins of the young season. After the first period, the Kings found themselves down 2-0 to a very good Dallas Stars team. They weren’t doing very well offensively once again.
But they turned the tide thanks to Warren Foegle and an unlikely hero in Tanner Jeannot. Foegle assisted on Jeannot’s goal in the second period to narrow the deficit, and after Joel Edmundson tied the game later in the second period, Jeannot returned the favor, finding Foegle who scored the go-ahead goal, giving the Kings a come-from-behind 3-2 victory.
Neither Foegle nor Jeannot are superstars, but their connection on the second line ultimately fueled a very gritty victory. The Kings have had their depth tested early and often this season, and winning a game due in large part to two of their depth players and doing so from behind is an encouraging sign for a team that is going to need to win in different ways and see other players step up amid injuries to some of their stars.
It was also easily the best game of Jeannot’s Kings career. An offseason signing from Tampa Bay, it could be hugely beneficial for the Kings if his offensive production heats up in the coming weeks.
The four-game win streak is by far the longest of the season for Los Angeles, a team that has had to navigate the aforementioned injuries as well as a long road trip to start the year due to renovations to Crypto.com Arena. The Kings navigated all of it to sit in second place in the NHL’s Pacific Division, but consistent winning is still a very good sign for a squad that hopes to make a deep playoff run.
They will look to extend their winning streak to five games and make it a SoCal sweep this Saturday versus the first-place Minnesota Wild at Crypto.com Arena at 5 p.m., a game that will likely see Kuemper return to start in goal for the Kings against their high-octane opponent.