The Vegas Golden Knights will wrap up the second half of their first back-to-back in 2023-24 with a road tilt against the Los Angeles Kings tonight in California.
Vegas is coming off its first loss of the season after falling 4-3 in overtime to Chicago yesterday afternoon. The loss ended Vegas’ seven-game undefeated streak to start the season, which set a record for the best start by a defending Stanley Cup champion team.
The Golden Knights’ performance was not up to snuff, and their game was riddled with mistakes that proved costly. Turnovers ended up in the back of the net, the power play went 0-for-4 and failed to convert on multiple opportunities in the third period, and the Golden Knights managed just 10 shots in the final 42:50 of the game.
Even so, the Golden Knights still came away with a point and have collected 15 of a possible 16 points through eight games this season. They have yet to lose in regulation, but today’s opponent will make for a much more difficult matchup.
The Kings are also in the second half of a back-to-back and are coming off a wild game against the Coyotes. Arizona scored four goals in the first period, leading to netminder Pheonix Copley getting yanked just 8:21 into the contest after yielding three, two of which came in the span of 35 seconds. Cam Talbot gave up a goal to put the Kings in a 4-1 hole after 20 minutes.
However, the Kings scored the next four goals, with Drew Doughty’s second and third of the year sandwiching the comeback. Doughty scored on the power play in the second period and then netted the game-winner with 1:59 remaining in a three-goal third. Talbot played a key role in the win, finishing the game with a .944 save percentage in 51:04.
Los Angeles is 4-2-1 through seven games and sits in third place in the division, trailing Vancouver by one point and Vegas by six (with a game in hand). Los Angeles has won back-to-back games against Arizona, and its only regulation losses this year came against undefeated teams (Colorado, Boston).
Kevin Fiala leads the Kings in scoring with one goal and 10 points, while Trevor Moore has a team-high five goals.
The Golden Knights are 15-11-3 all-time against Los Angeles and 8-6-1 at Crypto.com Arena. Vegas went 2-2-0 in last year’s season series.
2022-23 season series recap
The Kings finished third in the Pacific Division with 104 points in 2022-23, trailing the first-place Golden Knights by seven points. Los Angeles was eliminated by Edmonton in six games in the first round.
Game 1 of 82: Vegas @ Los Angeles (4-3 VGK)
Jonathan Marchessault scored the first Vegas goal of the season, converting on a 3-on-1 just 1:41 into the second period. Jack Eichel scored 1:27 into the third, giving Vegas a 2-1 lead. The Golden Knights and Kings exchanged goals in the third, and Mark Stone scored the game-winner with 26 seconds left in regulation. The Golden Knights set a franchise record for most shots in a season opener with 51.
Game 37 of 82: Vegas @ Los Angeles (4-2 LAK)
Michael Amadio scored for the third game in a row on Vegas’ 14th power-play goal in December, and Brayden McNabb lit the lamp against his former team for his first of the year. But Vegas proceeded to surrender three unanswered goals in its third regulation road loss of the season.
Game 42 of 82: Vegas vs. Los Angeles (5-1 LAK)
Fiala scored a hat trick for Los Angeles in an overall flat performance by the Golden Knights, which snapped a three-game winning streak. It was Vegas’ second loss to Los Angeles in 12 days. Marchessault scored the lone goal for Vegas.
Game 79 of 82: Vegas vs. Los Angeles (5-2 VGK)
The Golden Knights scored three goals in the span of 3:13 in the first 6:07 of the first period of a critical game against the Kings. Nicolas Roy scored 5:16 later on the power play to cap off a four-goal first period. Vegas took a 5-0 lead 62 seconds into the second period, scoring five times on just 15 shots. The Kings added two in the second but were never able to get back in the game.
Special teams report
Power play
Golden Knights: 20.7 percent (6-for-29) — 12th overall
Kings: 18.8 percent (6-for-32) — 17th overall
Penalty kill
Golden Knights: 85.7 percent (18-for-21) — 11th overall
Kings: 88.0 percent (22-for-25) — 7th overall
Goalie matchup
Vegas
Logan Thompson: Thompson is 3-0-0 with a 2.00 goals-against average and .933 save percentage. He is 2-2-0 all-time against the Kings (2.74 GAA, .911 SV%).
Los Angeles
Cam Talbot: Originally, Talbot was supposed to be the starter in tonight’s matchup, though he played 51:04 last night in relief. He is 3-2-0 this season with a 2.70 goals-against average and .906 save percentage. Talbot is 7-7-2 all-time against the Golden Knights (3.27 GAA, .898 SV%).
Pheonix Copley: Copley was pulled after giving up three goals on six shots in 8:21 last night against Arizona. He is 1-0-1 with a 4.98 goals-against average and .788 save percentage this year. However, Copley is 2-0-0 in three career games against Vegas (1.13 GAA, .955 SV%).
Keys to the game
Cleanup on aisle nine: The Golden Knights lost control of yesterday’s game, and a huge part of that was puck management. Most of Chicago’s offense came from Vegas’ unforced errors, and the Golden Knights failed to capitalize on many occasions. Though the Blackhawks played well and took advantage of Vegas’ mistakes, the Golden Knights’ loss was largely self-inflicted. The Golden Knights turned the puck over, fired errant passes, missed the net on wide-open attempts and were unable to generate much on the power play despite having four of them. It was a sloppy effort in many respects, and the Golden Knights have to clean things up. That kind of careless play will prove to be even more problematic against a much more skilled and seasoned Kings team. To a man, the Golden Knights have to be better.
“We haven’t seen a lot of [division rivals] this year, so that should get our attention right away,” Cassidy said after the loss. “When you don’t have your best, most good teams want to remedy in a hurry. They have pride. … They’ll want to be better than they were today because they’re professionals.”
Something special: The Golden Knights have to be better on special teams. The Kings are capable of scoring in bunches, and Los Angeles has more depth than many of the opponents Vegas has faced so far this season. Staying out of the box will be important, but the Golden Knights have to take advantage of opportunities. Vegas had 4:59 of time on the power play in the third period against Chicago and generated just two shots on goal; in particular, zone entries were an issue, and then Vegas failed to get pucks to the net. That has to change tonight and moving forward. The Vegas power play has scored two goals in three different games but has been shut down in the other five, going 0-for-3 or 0-for-4 in four of those five. The power play needs to be more consistent.
Projected lineups
Golden Knights
Ivan Barbashev — Jack Eichel — Jonathan Marchessault
Paul Cotter — Chandler Stephenson — Mark Stone
Pavel Dorofeyev — William Karlsson — Michael Amadio
William Carrier — Brett Howden — Keegan Kolesar
Alec Martinez — Alex Pietrangelo
Brayden McNabb — Shea Theodore
Nicolas Hague — Brayden Pachal
Logan Thompson
Adin Hill
Injured: Nicolas Roy, Zach Whitecloud
Kings
Quinton Byfield — Anze Kopitar — Adrian Kempe
Kevin Fiala — Pierre-Luc DuBois — Alex Laferriere
Trevor Moore — Phillip Danault — Arthur Kaliyev
Carl Grundstrom — Blake Lizotte — Trevor Lewis
Mikey Anderson — Drew Doughty
Vladislav Gavrikov — Matt Roy
Andreas Englund — Jordan Spence
Cam Talbot
Pheonix Copley
Injured: Viktor Arvidsson
How to watch
Game 9: Golden Knights vs. Kings
When: 7:30 p.m. PT
Where: Crypto.com Arena — Los Angeles, CA
TV: Scripps
Radio: Fox Sports 98.9 FM