Kings Highlights: Loss to Oilers, second straight loss – The Hockey Writers – Los Angeles Kings

The Los Angeles Kings have lost two games in a row during the regular season for the first time in two months. That's how they've been since November, but last night against the Edmonton Oilers, it was a familiar but unusual performance as they suffered a low-scoring 1-0 loss.

What I mean by “familiar” is a 2-1 loss to the Calgary Flames a few days ago, in which the Kings went all-out and barely showed up on the scoreboard, followed by second and third quarters. The performance in the third quarter was unsatisfactory. It's almost a carbon copy of Edmonton. The Kings got off to a strong start, creating a variety of opportunities, outscoring the Oilers 8-2 in the first nine minutes and leading 14-6 when the final buzzer sounded 20 minutes later. This time, the Kings' strong start didn't do much, allowing the Oilers to keep their composure and eventually beat them in the second and third quarters.

The second quarter has typically been the Kings' worst of the season, but the third quarter was new territory for the Kings when they couldn't take control of the game and couldn't find a way to win or push for overtime. The magic in the third stage disappeared twice in a row.

No matter how defensive

The Kings rely on defense to win hockey games and create offensive opportunities as a result. Their ability to consistently break up play, clog up the neutral zone, step up at the blue line, put their stick and body in front of the puck, and keep opponents out allows them to turn the puck up the ice in another way .

Although the Kings have lacked offense in the past few games and they experienced a collapse after the first quarter offense, their defense is still outstanding. They've conceded just one goal at five-on-five in their past three games, and that goal came as a result of a glaring error.

The Kings didn't score, but they didn't give up much either, which is why all three of their games on this road trip ended up being one-goal low scores. Even the one goal they lost to the Oilers last night came in a 4-on-4 game with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl on the ice and all the extra time and space.

“I thought we played a solid game, you know 4-on-4, one little mistake, they executed it well and that was the deciding factor, so we have to make sure we turn it around and get it going our way. Development,” forward Anze Kopitar said.

Lack of closure is killing kings

The Kings' offense has been very important in the past few games, scoring only three goals in three games on this road trip. Now they are no longer a team that wins games because of their offense. At the end of the day, goals are what matters, and right now they haven't achieved any of them.

The Kings have proven to be able to score in a number of different ways as well, but nothing seems to be going in the right direction over the past three games. That’s not to say they didn’t spend time creating opportunities in the offensive zone, but two things.

One is that some of the bounce they had early in the season was finding the back of the net, but now it's gone. The other thing is they're up against a couple of hot goaltenders. Eric Comrie gave up just one goal in regulation for Jets, Dustin Wolf stood on his head in Calgary, and Stuart Skinner last night (Stuart Skinner) The Oilers took multiple shots in the first quarter and ended up stopping all 30 of the Kings' shots to keep them off the scoreboard. Mix bad luck with the puck with hot goaltending and the offensive collapse in the second half of these games, and it's no wonder this team can barely put the puck in the net.

“Just need to find a way to score goals […] We had chances, we created enough chances to score, so we just have to find a way and we'll be fine,” defender Vladislav Gavrikov said.

Shearer's interesting coaching decision

Kings head coach Jim Shearer isn't afraid to make rash decisions, especially during games. If he doesn't like what he sees from a player, you better believe that player will know immediately. They usually find out by watching the rest of the game from the bench.

That's what happened to forward Alex Laferriere last night in Edmonton. McDavid hit him along the boards near the bench, and he retaliated by picking up McDavid's legs, nearly knocking him to the ground. An irrational decision by LaFerriere resulted in not only a penalty kick late in the second period, but he also didn't play a minute in the third period.

Shearer said after the game that it was the worst moment of the game and offered no additional information when asked if he had anything to share about Laferrière and his bench. Although Oilers forward Kasperi Kapanen jumped off the bench to defend his captain, he was also trapped in the penalty area as the two teams played 4-on-4. Scored the only goal.

LaFerrriere didn't take the penalty kick, the 4-on-4 matchup didn't happen, and the Oilers didn't open the scoring before the end of the second period. So Shearer's decision to punish LaFerrriere was justified, wasn't it?

We know Shearer is important in disciplining players and holding them accountable, but given the circumstances, is it the best idea to leave LaFerrriere on the bench?

For one, the Kings elected to go with 11 forwards and seven guards against the Oilers. They seem to have been using this formation forever. They had opted to go behind one forward, which meant they were down two forwards throughout the third quarter with LaFerrriere's replacement. Now, it's one thing to want to run with 10 forwards if your team has a comfortable lead in the game, but it's another to choose to look for a push in the third quarter with only three full defensive lines and an extra player. One thing. The Kings gradually grew more tired in the third quarter, and the tying effort never came.

Accountability is one of the most important things, but in a road game against a rival team like the Oilers, where you can't score goals and are down 11 and 7, it might be a good idea to add players who are on the ice Ranked third on the team in goals scored.

RELATED: Kings takeaways: Let one slip in 2-1 loss to Flames

The fourth game of the five-game road trip is next Thursday (Jan. 16) in Vancouver against the Canucks. The Kings have yet to lose three straight games in the regular season so far this season, and they'll be looking to continue that trend.