Kings drop fourth straight to open season, fall to Knights in OT
A common theme discussed throughout the offseason was how the first season without franchise icon Anze Kopitar could bring some growing pains and test the mental toughness of the Los Angeles Kings as they entered a new era of hockey. Unfortunately for LA, those challenges have arrived earlier than hoped.
The Los Angeles Kings suffered their fourth consecutive opening season loss on Saturday night, falling to the Vegas Golden Knights 2-1 in overtime at the T-Mobile Arena. This defeat marks a challenging start for the team, as they enter a new era without franchise icon Anze Kopitar. The Kings' recent struggles with special teams have once again played a role in their poor performance.
Both Vegas goals in this game came from power play opportunities, with Trevor Connelly scoring the first and Artemi Panarin equalizing for Vegas. Despite scoring a power play goal of their own, the Kings failed to capitalize in the second period, managing only three shots on goal. Mitch Marner scored the game-winning goal for Vegas in overtime, extending his impressive point streak against the Kings to six games.
Coach Peter Laviolette, in his 1,598th career game, expressed frustration at the narrow defeat, emphasizing the team's need to trust the process and continue working together to turn their early struggles around.
Written by urgent.news from Yahoo Sports's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
Also reported by 2 other outlets
- Marner scores on OT power play to lift the Golden Knights past the Kings, 2-1 winnipegfreepress.com
- Marner scores on OT power play to lift the Golden Knights past the Kings, 2-1 sports.yahoo.com
