A three-goal first period was too much for the LA Kings to overcome on the second night of a back-to-back.
Final from Tampa. #GoKingsGo pic.twitter.com/F9XQpIlQXM
— LA Kings (@LAKings) January 29, 2023
Goal Breakdown
First period:
TBL: Brayden Point (29), ASST: Nikita Kucherov (53)
TBL: Pierre-Edouard Bellemare (9), ASST: Nick Perbix (9)
LAK: Jaret Anderson-Dolan (6), ASST: Kevin Fiala (35)
TBL: Corey Perry (9), ASST: Nick Perbix (10), Vladislav Namestnikov (7)
Second period:
TBL: Ross Colton (10), ASST: Nick Perbix (11), Pat Maroon (7)
LAK: Phillip Danault (14), ASST: Alex Iafallo (11), Drew Doughty (28)
THAT'S OUR PHIL! pic.twitter.com/fkUDBVbMOE
— LA Kings (@LAKings) January 29, 2023
Third period:
TBL: Victor Hedman (4), ASST: Steven Stamkos (33), Brayden Point (25)
Stats
Goals:
LAK: 2
TBL: 5
Shots:
LAK: 28
TBL: 25
Power-plays:
LAK: 0/2
TBL: 0/2
Here are the takeaways from Saturday’s 5-2 loss:
Goaltending is a problem
Just less than 24 hours before their game against the Tampa Bay Lightning yesterday, the LA Kings escaped with a 4-3 win over the Florida Panthers. With it being a back-to-back and spending a lot of energy to earn a hard-fought two points, it was expected to see them come out of the gates sluggish and to expect the worst. Anything that could have gone wrong did. A bad turnover by Sean Walker made it 1-0 Lightning and it went downhill after that.
Jonathan Quick had a -3.08 goals saved above expected tonight according to @MoneyPuckdotcom. That is not good. #GoKingsGo
— Kyle Garcia (@Kopitar4HOF) January 29, 2023
However, it was evident there was one issue that came up again, and that was goaltending. According to the Money Puck website, Jonathan Quick had a -3.08 goals saved above expected last night. That’s beyond bad. Pheonix Copley is a 31-year-old journeyman and Jonathan Quick is 37 years of age, in the twilight of his career and the Kings are relying on those two to hold the fort down between the pipes as they make a playoff push. The goaltending is not only a problem this season, but the future looks bleak as well. Quick hasn’t won a game since December 1st against the Coyotes and is a liability right now. It’s an issue general manager Rob Blake needs to look at carefully and evaluate during the all-star break.
JAD records his 6th
Not MAD about this goal from JAD pic.twitter.com/1APVzJ3hXS
— LA Kings (@LAKings) January 29, 2023
Jaret-Anderson Dolan got the Kings on the board with his 6th of the year at the 10:12 mark of the first period to pull the Kings within one. A harmless shot from the left wing ended up squeaking through Andrei Vasilevskiy. It was the closest the Kings would get in the contest as Corey Perry scored just under six minutes later to give the Lightning their two-goal lead back. It was a goal on which Jonathan Quick was overly aggressive as well.
UP NEXT: The LA Kings will end their six-game road trip in Carolina as they take on the Hurricanes on Tuesday. The game can be seen on Bally Sports West at 4 PM PT.
Featured image credit: AP Photo/Chris O’Meara