Kings being 'too cute' amid porous skid
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The Los Angeles Kings dropped their third straight game on Wednesday, allowing a total of 16 goals over that stretch.
After falling 8-7 in overtime to the Ottawa Senators on Monday, the Kings were blown out 6-2 by the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday. The Kings trailed 5-0 after two periods before ending Anthony Stolarz's shutout bid in the third.
The Kings sit at 1-1-2 on the early season and are looking to quickly correct their path to reach the playoffs for a fourth straight year.
“This east-west stuff is not working for us,” Kings forward Trevor Lewis said of the team's latest loss, per NHL.com. “We know what we have to do to be successful.”
“Most guys know how to play here, and when we get too cute, well, it’s simple to say but keep it north-south, get it in and go get it back.”
“We had too many turnovers for sure,” forward Phillip Danault added. “We’ve got to keep it simple and create more offense that way for sure. It starts with the forecheck. We’ve got to forecheck with a purpose. We can’t just, well, be there. We’ve got to want it a little more.”
David Rittich started in net for the Kings on Wednesday but was pulled after allowing four goals on 14 shots. Pheonix Copley allowed two goals on 12 shots in relief as the duo filled the void left by injured starter Darcy Kuemper, who is day-to-day.
Kings head coach Jim Hiller pinned the blame for the myriad of goals on defensive breakdowns, rather than the performance of his goaltenders.
“We broke down and they scored,” Hiller said. “I don’t think they had that many chances, they had good chances. Breakdowns by us for sure. So yeah, it’s a concern any time you don’t win the game and you break down early like we did but here we are, we’ve got a game tomorrow so we will put this one behind us, it’s the only thing we can do.”
Los Angeles will look to rebound against the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday in the fifth game of their current seven-game road trip. The trip will conclude with stops against the Anaheim Ducks and Vegas Golden Knights.