Kings falter in second period, giving up three goals in a 4-1 loss to the Flames
The Kings staged their annual Fan Appreciation Night on Thursday, four days after the team was eliminated from contention for a playoff berth, something the fans really would have appreciated.
Instead they got a team that was simply playing out the string, giving up three second-period goals in a 4-1 loss to the Calgary Flames.
The game meant little to the Kings in the standings, but it was important for slumping Calgary, which needed a win to keep pace with victorious Nashville in the race for the Western Conference’s top wild-card berth.
“We certainly realize that we can be the spoilers of the seeding or whatever,” captain Anze Kopitar said of the Kings, who finish the season with Chicago and the Ducks, two other teams battling for playoff positioning.
But that, he added, isn’t the team’s primary focus.
“We’ve got to look at ourselves,” he said. “Our game and how we perform.”
They didn’t perform very well against Calgary. Two days after scoring six goals against Edmonton, the Kings got one on 28 shots against Calgary. And they gave up a power-play goal on the Flames’ first man-advantage opportunity.
That goal came on a Sam Bennett one-timer from the top of the slot five minutes into the game and it was the third first-period power-play goal the Kings’ once-invincible penalty kill has allowed in as many games.
The Kings got that back less than two minutes later, with Trevor Lewis rifling a shot in from the center of the right faceoff circle. But the Flames caught a big break to go ahead for good early in the second period.
Dennis Wideman, who had been serving time for roughing, came out of the box just as Calgary’s penalty killers gained control of the puck deep in their own end. That left Wideman well behind the Kings defense, where he collected a long clearance from Micheal Ferland, launching him on a breakaway he finished by wristing a shot behind goalie Ben Bishop’s legs.
Freddie Hamilton doubled the advantage midway through the period, shoving a wraparound in at the left post, and four minutes later Alex Chiasson redirected T.J. Brodie’s long slap slot in to give the Flames a 4-1 advantage.
At the end of the period the unappreciative fans sent the Kings off to a smattering of boos.
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