The Los Angeles Kings will try to avoid their second three-game losing streak in less than a month when they host the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday night.
The Kings lost 3-2 to the Vegas Golden Knights in regulation on Thursday, then fell 3-2 in a shootout against the visiting Edmonton Oilers on Saturday.
Before losing three in a row to the New York Islanders, New York Rangers and Winnipeg Jets from Dec. 9-13, the Kings had not lost three straight all season.
“We weren’t going to play .800 hockey the whole year, it just never has happened,” Los Angeles coach Todd McLellan said. “Other teams are adapting to us a little bit too, but I don’t think we’re playing poorly. I think we’re right there.”
McLellan pointed to the game in Las Vegas last week. Both teams had played the night before, but it was the Golden Knights who jumped out to a 2-0 lead early in the second period.
The Kings twice pulled within a goal and had another waived off for goaltender interference as they failed to ever tie things up.
“I didn’t think we played poor as a team,” McLellan said. “I think we made some individual mistakes, which are going to happen, and we’re not scoring goals as easily as we did earlier in the year. That’s probably the biggest difference.”
Some of the most explosive offensive players for Los Angeles continue to have solid seasons, however.
Adrian Kempe recorded his 10th multi-point game of the season against the Oilers, the third straight season he has reached that mark.
Kevin Fiala scored his eighth goal of the season vs. Edmonton, giving him 31 points through 33 games.
Anze Kopitar contributed an assist on Saturday, giving him 10 points in his past nine games.
Toronto will be the first of seven consecutive Eastern Conference opponents for the Kings, and the Maple Leafs are also trying to avoid matching their longest losing streak of the season.
Toronto lost its third straight game on Saturday against the visiting Carolina Hurricanes. The Maple Leafs fell behind 2-0 and 3-1 before pulling their goalie for an extra attacker and cutting the deficit to one before ultimately losing 3-2.
“Frustrations are a useless emotion,” Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said. “I don’t get caught up in that. We just got to keep playing and keep going.”
Toronto also lost the night before, 6-5, in overtime to the host Columbus Blue Jackets.
“Every point matters,” Toronto forward John Tavares said. “In general, not a great week for us, only coming up with a point and not coming out of the (holiday) break the way we wanted to. Important to regroup, get back to work and know we got to bounce back and continue to build our game and obviously get the results that we need.”
Keefe has begun making players accountable for their poor play.
David Kampf was a healthy scratch against the Hurricanes for the first time this season, a night after his costly giveaway in the offensive zone led to a game-tying third-period goal by the Blue Jackets.
“I guess you could call it a message to the group in the sense that there’s going to be less tolerance for that,” Keefe said.
–Field Level Media
