LOS ANGELES — In their final game for two weeks due to the Four Nations Face-Off, the Los Angeles Kings couldn’t protect Crypto.com Arena from a flock of nearby Ducks.
The Kings didn’t generate much offense during the first 40 minutes. Anaheim broke the scoreless deadlock after Brian Dumoulin scored on David Rittich in the third period. Rittich was given his second start in as many nights as Darcy Kuemper remained sidelined for personal reasons.
LA rolled with 11 forwards and seven defensemen and evened the game with less than three minutes left in regulation as Adrian Kempe notched his 25th goal of the year off a feed from Phillip Danault.
During the game, blueliner Drew Doughty was announced as Alex Pietrangelo’s replacement in the Four Nations Face-Off, to represent Team Canada. The Kings also celebrated Trevor Lewis’ 1000th game pregame.
The loss snapped the Kings’ three-game winning streak. But it was also LA’s third game in four days and second shootout in a row, suggesting possible fatigue.
Jim Hiller didn’t shy away from making changes to the Kings’ lineup during the game to get things going. But when it was all said and done, the team’s offense just couldn’t connect, going scoreless on three power-play opportunities.
Trevor Zegras and Leo Carlsson scored in the shootout to give Anaheim the 2-1 victory and their sixth in the last seven contests. Talk of Troy reporter Kasey Kazliner was on the scene at Crypto.com Arena and analyzed the game on Skate of Thrones, TOT’s LA Kings podcast.