Still in search of their first win in the Peter Laviolette era, the Los Angeles Kings make the short trip to Las Vegas to face the defending Western Conference champion Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday night.
Los Angeles is 0-2-1 in its first three games under Laviolette, including road losses at Colorado (8-4) and San Jose (5-4 in OT). They come in off a 2-1 loss to the Florida Panthers on Tuesday in their home opener.
Despite the slow start, the Kings, just one point ahead of winless Calgary at the bottom of the Pacific Division, remain optimistic about what lies ahead.
“I’m just excited for us to put a full 60 minutes together,” veteran Kings defenseman Joel Edmundson said. “I think we’ll be a fun team to watch, a hard team to play against. We just haven’t been able to get that full 60 (minutes) yet, but every day we’re getting better and better.”
Captain Drew Doughty said it doesn’t feel like his team is as bad as its record so far.
“The first one (at Colorado) is the only one that feels like that,” Doughty said. “San Jose, we shot ourselves in the foot. I thought we could have won that one.”
The Kings finished with 27 giveaways in the sloppy loss to the Panthers.
“We just made more mistakes to give them opportunities than they did,” Doughty said. “I don’t think we need to adjust anything on systems. I just think we need to do them better, and when we get our chances, we’ve got to capitalize.”
Los Angeles will have to do it without forward Mats Zuccarello for the near future. Laviolette announced after practice Friday that Zuccarello would not make the trip to Las Vegas and is “week-to-week” with an undisclosed injury. Forward Jared Wright was recalled from AHL affiliate Ontario to take his place on the roster.
Vegas comes in off a 4-3 shootout victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday, rallying from a 3-0 first-period deficit in the process.
Jack Eichel continued his hot start with a penalty-shot goal and an assist, Adin Hill made 21 saves and snapped a seven-game losing streak in shootouts, and 20-year-old rookie forward Trevor Connelly scored the winner in the fifth round of the shootout with a nifty move and backhand goal around the left pad of Sergei Bobrovsky.
“I’ve been practicing a bit at the end of practice,” Connelly said. “I knew I had a couple of moves that I thought would work. I just trusted my instincts and luckily it went in.”
It marked just the fifth time in team history that the Golden Knights rallied from a three-goal deficit to pick up a win.
“I just think it shows how resilient we are, how up and down the lineup everyone is going to have an impact,” Connelly said. “When we get down, we’re not giving up.”
“I liked that we picked each other up,” Vegas coach Ryan Craig added. “I liked that we stayed with it individually and as a team. I don’t like going down 3-0, but there’s something to be said with how we stuck together.”
–Field Level Media
