The Los Angeles Kings aim to find their checking game when they visit the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday night.
The Kings’ defensive play was missing Monday afternoon when they squandered a 4-2 lead in an 8-7 overtime loss to the host Ottawa Senators.
“We didn’t bring our checking game. That’s the bottom line for me,” Kings coach Jim Hiller said. “We didn’t have the mindset to check. It turned into a crazy game that we could have won, but there’s a reason that we didn’t win it.”
Alex Laferriere and Kevin Fiala each scored twice for the Kings on Monday with Brandt Clarke and Anze Kopitar adding three assists apiece.
“We were up, but I don’t think at any point we felt like we were in control of the game,” Hiller said. “We were pretty opportunistic to be up 4-2, so there was no real shift for me. It was just us trying to get playing the type of game that we needed to get playing. And I don’t know if we got that for more than three or four shifts.”
“We’re up 4-2 in the second period and that’s … I don’t care that they come back or whatever,” said Kings right winger Adrian Kempe, who had a goal and assist. “We have to shut the game down at that point. Unacceptable from our side. Defending poorly, careless, everything wasn’t clicking (Monday).”
The Kings are 1-0-2 three games into their season-opening, seven-game road trip.
The Maple Leafs have won two in a row after dropping their season opener 1-0 to the host Montreal Canadiens on Oct. 9.
Toronto opened a four-game homestand on Saturday with a 4-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Auston Matthews, who led the NHL with 69 goals last season, has yet to register a point for the Maple Leafs. Last season, he had six goals in his first two games.
“The chances are there, I think it’s just a matter of time,” Matthews said. “We’re playing good hockey, we’re winning, so that’s the most important part. You know that those chances will eventually fall and get going from there. It’s nice to get the first one to get going sometimes, but you take what you get and what the game gives you sometimes.”
“He’s getting his opportunities. They don’t go in all the time,” Toronto coach Craig Berube said. “What I really like about his game is his effort and his compete out there, playing 200 feet.”
Toronto’s power play has sputtered at 0-for-9 for the first three games and was a focus of practice on Monday.
“We moved a few things around, they seemed to have some energy and excitement in it,” Berube said. “That’s a big thing for power-play guys, they have to feel it. Right now in the games, we aren’t. We’ll get a little more work in (Tuesday) and see where it goes.”
There is a chance that defenseman Timothy Liljegren will make his season debut on Wednesday. He was a healthy scratch for the first three games.
Berube and Liljegren have discussed the situation.
“It’s more like playing an easier, simpler game,” Liljegren said. “I think that’s it. Play hard and simple.”
Berube said that Liljegren has been working with more intensity at practices.
John Tavares (illness) returned to practice on Tuesday, but William Nylander (illness) did not skate. Nylander scored twice on Saturday.
–Field Level Media
