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Kings lose in shootout to Hurricanes

October 15, 2023

Carolina Hurricanes center Sebastian Aho, left, scores on Los Angeles Kings goaltender Pheonix Copley during the first period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Carolina Hurricanes center Sebastian Aho, right, celebrates after scoring on Los Angeles Kings goaltender Pheonix Copley during the first period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Los Angeles Kings defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov, center, upends Carolina Hurricanes center Seth Jarvis, right, as goaltender Pheonix Copley is scored on during the first period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Los Angeles Kings center Anze Kopitar, second from left, scores on Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen, right, during the second period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Los Angeles Kings center Anze Kopitar, right, celebrates his goal with center Adrian Kempe during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Carolina Hurricanes Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Los Angeles Kings head coach Todd McLellan, right, yells to his team during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Carolina Hurricanes Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

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LOS ANGELES — With two of last season’s division champions on the schedule to start the season, Kings coach Todd McCellan said he wanted to give both goaltenders a chance to get time in the net.

“We have to get everybody going here,” McClellan said. “We are playing against arguably two of the top five teams probably in the National Hockey League right off the bat and both are going to get tested. We need them to play all season long.”

The Kings goalies got an early look at what lies ahead as the season gets rolling. Cam Talbot started the opener and allowed four goals in a loss to the Colorado Avalanche. On Saturday, Phoenix Copley started and gave up five goals to the Carolina Hurricanes.

But while goaltending might be a challenge moving forward, the Kings’ offense was in midseason form, coming back from a three-goal deficit against one of the best teams in the league to force overtime. The result wasn’t what the Kings had hoped to get – losing 6-5 in a shootout – but it showed they could stay with the best.

“It was a very good point we earned and it’s a bad point we gave away,” McCellan said. “I think the resilience of the group coming back and not quitting, actually playing, for the most part, made it a pretty good game.

“The brain cramps — I can’t use some words I’d like to use in the individual errors — were very costly for the group as a whole. Those have to get cleaned up. There’s some guys that need to get sharp.”

Anze Kopitar was not one of the players McCellan was referring to in his postgame interview.

Kopitar scored his second goal on a wrist shot with 1:22 left in regulation to tie the game at 5. The Kings had trailed 5-3 heading into the final period.

The Kings went back to a more traditional lineup, playing 12 forwards and six defensemen in their second game. In their season-opening loss, they used 11 forwards because of the injury to Viktor Arvidsson, who was placed on the long-term injured list with a lower-body injury, and salary cap issues.

Arvidsson will have surgery next week, McCellan said, which will not only ease the cap space, but open job opportunities for some players.

Despite having a full complement of players, the Kings struggled to stop the Hurricanes in the early going, as Carolina scored three times in the opening period and twice in the second.

The Kings pulled to within one 5-4 on a goal by Vladislav Gavrikov midway through the final period before Kopitar’s game-tying goal.

Veterans Drew Dougherty, Trevor Moore and Kopitar accounted for the Kings’ first three goals and Gavrikov added the fourth score in the third on an unassisted goal from the left side.

Trailing 4-1, the Kings cut the lead on a power play when Kopitar took a pass from Adrian Kempe for a tip-in. It was Kopitar’s first goal of the season; he got an assist in the previous game.

The Hurricanes padded their score on a goal by Teuvo Teravainen before Moore scored a power-play goal to cut the Hurricanes lead 5-3 heading into the final period.

The Hurricanes jumped on Copley early.

After riding out the game’s first power play, Carolina’s Brett Burns powered in a shot from just inside the faceoff circle for a 1-0 lead. Jacob Slavin assisted on the play.

Less than two minutes later, the Hurricanes’ Jordan Martinook was called for tripping, giving the Kings a man-advantage in their first power play. It didn’t matter as the Hurricanes added to their score, this time on a backhand by Sebastian Aho, who slipped the puck past Copley at the 13:19 mark of the first period. Aho also had an assist.

The Hurricanes added to Copley’s rough outing with another goal. Jesperi Kotkaniemi won a faceoff against Phillip Danault and raced down the ice, catching Copley unaware for an unassisted goal and a 3-0 lead.

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The Kings got more aggressive as the period wore on, crowding the net and taking 14 shots, finally connecting on a slap shot from Doughty with 1:33 left in the opening period.

Two games is a small sample but McCellan said there are some things he has been impressed with and others not so much.

One, was how the Kings limited the Hurricanes to 19 shots on goal.

“That rarely happens,” he said. “And we did a pretty good job against Colorado, yet we gave up nine goals in two games. That’s not good.

“So, what’s happening? Where are they (the mistakes) coming from? We’ll start in the crease. We got to get better in that area. Our back end wasn’t real strong against Colorado but it was better tonight. Our special teams gave up two on the powerplay tonight. That’s not good. So, it’s happening from all over the place.

“We will score enough goals to win games. It’s the tightening up of certain areas of our game.”

Orange County Register

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Kings lose in shootout to Hurricanes

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