LOS ANGELES, CA– The Kings lost the Freeway Face-Off in a shoot-out to the Ducks, 2-1.
Before the game started, Trevor Lewis was honored for playing his 1000th career game in the NHL. As important as this was, Lewis was not the only King who received an ovation.
Monumental news broke through that Drew Doughty would be playing in the 4 Nations Face Off. Doughty will be representing Team Canada as a replacement for Alex Pietrangelo.
While the Kings headlined the news before the game, the actual gameplay from Los Angeles didn’t make any noise. Through the first two periods, the Kings were held scoreless.
“I didn’t like our game for 40 minutes at all, but give them credit,” Coach Hiller. “We got it together for 20 minutes at least, but we came up a little short.”
After Anaheim got on the board first, Adrian Kempe delivered a goal to force overtime. As Los Angeles tried to battle back, they were stopped by Anaheim Goaltender, Lukas Dostal.
The Kings had 44 shots on goal but the Dostal saved 43 of those shots. Dostal also saved both shots in the shoot-out to clinch the win.
In what was a big night for Los Angeles, it was spoiled by a heartbreaking defeat. Lukas Dostal was the real headline after his monster performance.
As dominant as Dostal was, the Ducks received help from Brian Dumoulin, who delivered the only regulation goal. Jacob Trouba and Leo Carlsson both collected an assist on the play.
In defeat, Warren Foegle and Phillip Danault were both credited for the assist on the Kempe goal. David Rittich also had a good performance with 25 saves and a .960 save percentage.
Although the Kings lost before the two-week break, all attention will be focused on Kempe and Dostal. Along with Dostal representing Canada, Kempe will represent Sweden in the 4 Nations Face Off.
After a two-week break, the Kings will look to get back on track on Saturday, February 22nd. The Kings will debut the final portion of the season at Crypto.com Arena against Utah Hockey Club.
