Kings stumble against Bruins in third period
LOS ANGELES — On a day when the Kings’ top prospect won a gold medal, the parent club was busy with a big game of its own, falling to the NHL-pacing Boston Bruins, 5-2, Thursday night at Crypto.com Arena.
Earlier in the evening, host nation Canada defeated Czechia in overtime to capture gold at the World Junior Championship in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Kings defenseman Brandt Clarke, loaned to Canada for the tournament, assisted on Arizona Coyotes forward Dylan Guenther’s first-period tally and also helped set up Guenther’s golden goal in overtime.
“There’s not a single young player that wants to leave the National Hockey League just like that in the middle of December,” Kings coach Todd McLellan said. “But Brandt accepted the challenge, he was all in and I’m sure tonight he’s really glad he left the National Hockey League to go enjoy that experience. He’s probably grown as a player immensely.”
On NHL ice, center Phillip Danault and defenseman Sean Durzi potted goals for the Kings. Pheonix Copley lost for the first time in his past eight decisions and stopped just 17 of 21 shots.
Leading scorer David Pastrnak bookended Boston’s scoring with their first goal and a late empty-netter. Potent pest Brad Marchand contributed a goal and an assist. Forward Trent Frederic scored twice in rapid succession during the third period to blow the game open. Boston’s No. 1 defenseman Charlie McAvoy picked up two assists. Jeremy Swayman made 27 saves, but he and Copley also made history before the match even started, becoming the first two Alaskan goaltenders to face each other in an NHL game.
“That’s the best team in the league, and I thought we just went toe to toe with them for 60 minutes,” said center Quinton Byfield, echoing McLellan’s sentiment that much of the match was evenly played.
From Dec. 15 until Thursday, the Kings had outscored opponents 11-4 in the third period. But Boston flexed its muscle as the NHL’s leading team by record in the final 20 minutes Thursday with a pair of goals by Frederic in the span of 34 seconds, both coming off regroupings after failed rushes.
“They capitalize on mistakes. We didn’t make very many tonight, but they capitalized on the few that we made,” McLellan said.
Frederic cushioned Boston’s advantage with a goal off a Nick Foligno pass from behind the net after Copley lost track of the puck altogether. Frederic’s ninth goal of the season signified a new career high.
With 9:24 remaining in the game, Boston had pulled ahead when Frederic tipped defenseman Brandon Carlo’s shot past Copley.
“I really feel like we had a strong game today, overall. It could have gone our way. It’s just the next step. They kind of know how to win, the next step for us is to, in those situations, figure out how to win,” said winger Kevin Fiala, who was selected to compete in this year’s all-star weekend Thursday.
In a second period that featured three total goals, there was also the very nearest miss and a bit of fisticuffs. Winger Viktor Arvidsson’s slap shot appeared destined to bank off Swayman and into the net to break a 2-2 tie, but the puck stood on its side just as it was about to cross the goalline, stopping its momentum and allowing Swayman to control it. Before that, Brendan Lemieux squared off with Frederic. The two wingers had fought twice previously, most recently during the Bruins’ 7-0 stomping of the Kings in February.
Boston took its first lead 2:21 after scoring its first goal and the Kings knotted the score 2:21 after that.
The Kings made it a new game 11:08 into the middle frame. Initially countering with speed and then building an attack in the offensive zone, their salvo culminated with a blast by Durzi from above the left faceoff dot to level the score.
Boston assumed control briefly off a broken play with their man advantage that resulted from a Blake Lizotte penalty. McAvoy’s pass was disrupted by Adrian Kempe, but the puck came directly to Marchand, whose sharp-angle shot was placed precisely in the top corner of the net.
That play restored some statistical normalcy to the special-teams battle. The Kings’ penalty kill, its Achilles heel this season, had its first game in 11 matches without allowing a power-play goal on Tuesday against Dallas. Meanwhile, Boston’s typically lethal power play had converted at a meager 6.7 percent clip from Dec. 23 until Thursday.
At the 6:26 mark of the second period, Boston’s big three drew the Bruins even. McAvoy and Marchand attracted four Kings to the wall, leaving the slot wide open for Pastrnak. Marchand hit him with a pass off the boards and his wrist shot from between the circles was true for his 26th goal of the season, pushing him back into the top five league-wide before he added his 27th in the dying embers of the match.
The first period was physical as the two sides dished out a combined 29 of the 54 total hits in the game and each inch of ice came at a cost.
With under four minutes left in the first period, the Kings kick-started the scoring. They moved the puck from low to high and then back down low. Winger Alex Iafallo went to work from behind the net, skating to one post to slide a pass across the blue paint and through McAvoy to find Danault at the opposite post for a redirection goal. Danault has 10 points in his past nine contests.
“It was definitely a playoff-type game, no time out there at all,” said Danault, who was intimately familiar with the Bruins from his tenure in Montreal. “It was a good fight from both teams.”