The Los Angeles Kings (26-23-15) played one of their tightest defensive games of the season on Wednesday afternoon, but it still wasn’t enough to escape Boston Bruins (36-22-6) territory.
Boston extended its home dominance, defeating the Kings 2-1 in overtime at TD Garden, securing its 13th consecutive home victory while continuing its elite defensive performance, holding the Kings to their fewest shots taken all season, 15.
The Bruins also improved to 3-1-0 this season in games tied 0-0 after two periods.
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For much of the night, the game resembled a playoff-style grind, with physical defense and strong goaltending.
As for the Kings’ side of things, Drew Doughty was the lone scorer in tonight’s game, while Adrian Kempe finished with one assist and one point; meanwhile, Artemi Panarin had his first bad game as a King, recording zero in the statsheet.
Darcy Kuemper had a great game, especially early on when both teams were struggling to score. Kuemper was the main catalyst at holding the Bruins to three shots in the first period and zero goals for the first 40 minutes, posting 21 saves on the night.
Scott Laughton had another great game, despite not putting up any points; his defense, energy, and speed were all positive for Los Angeles and have been a great fit for the Kings in his short time.
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A Scoreless Defensive Battle Through 40 Minutes
The opening 40 minutes featured little offensive rhythm from either team. It was one of the fewest shot attempts we’ve seen in a game this season, as Los Angeles outshot the Bruins 6-3 after the first period.
Despite the number of shots being very low, the Bruins had plenty of chances to score, especially on the power play, where they were terrible today, finishing 0/4, including a shot that struck the post, while Kuemper kept Boston off the board multiple times, making key saves.
Meanwhile, Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman was also dominant on the other side of the crease, stopping 14 of 15 shots from Los Angeles. He was everywhere on the ice, not giving any easy goals for the Kings.
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Special teams struggled on both sides. Boston’s power play was again nonexistent tonight; even with the penalties they drew, the Bruins failed to take advantage.
Los Angeles also failed to convert on the man advantage, leaving the game scoreless entering the third period with just 20 combined shots between the teams.
Bruins Break Through Late
After the defensive battle between the two teams lasted more than 48 minutes, Boston finally cracked the scoreboard.
Defenseman Mason Lohrei jumped into the offensive zone and beat Kuemper, breaking the tie at the 8:22 mark of the third period, giving Boston a 1-0 lead. The goal energized the crowd after both teams were cold on offense, and it appeared that the Bruins were set to seal another home win.
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Doughty Forces Overtime
But the Kings didn’t go away and responded again in the clutch.
Just over five minutes later, Drew Doughty tied the game 1-1, with under six minutes remaining in the final regulation, firing the point shot off Elias Lindholm’s skate at the net front and in to tie things up.
But, just 39 seconds in overtime, Charlie McAvoy buried the overtime winner to give Boston the 2-1 victory in one of the most tightly defensive battles we’ve seen in a regular-season match in a long time.
Despite the loss, the Kings competed very well on the road against Boston, which has been pretty much unbeatable at TD Garden, winning their 13th straight game there, and the defense was excellent.
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Key Stats
Los Angeles managed only 15 shots on goal, struggling to generate any offensive momentum all night despite playing one of their best defensive games of the season.
The Kings once again struggled on the power play, finishing 0/2 and winning just 44.9% of their faceoffs, two major stats that’ve been ailing them this season.
Disappointing for Los Angeles not to get two points, but it resulted in a hard-earned point and got some help tonight in the fight for a wild card spot, as the San Jose Sharks and Seattle Kraken all lost today.
The good news for Los Angeles is that they’re now tied with Seattle for the final wild-card spot in the postseason and are five points behind the Vegas Golden Knights and Edmonton Oilers for the second seed in the Pacific Division.
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Los Angeles will continue its five-game road trip on Friday, when it takes on the New York Islanders at 7:00 PM EST.
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