The Los Angeles Kings could remain severely short-handed up front when they visit the struggling Winnipeg Jets on Friday night.
The Kings were without captain Anze Kopitar and fellow forwards Corey Perry, Trevor Moore and Joel Armia in a 4-3 overtime loss to the visiting San Jose Sharks on Wednesday. Coach Jim Hiller was unsure if any of the four would be back against the Jets.
Kopitar and Armia were injured in the first period of a 4-2 win against the Minnesota Wild on Monday, Perry missed the loss to the Sharks because of an illness in the family, and Moore has missed the past four games with an upper-body injury.
The shortage forced the Kings to go with a lineup of 11 forwards and seven defensemen against San Jose.
“It (stinks) to have those guys out, but other guys have to step up,” Los Angeles forward Kevin Fiala said. “There’s no one-line show, one-man show, it’s a team thing.”
The Kings recalled forwards Taylor Ward and Andre Lee from Ontario of the American Hockey League on Wednesday, and they both made their season debuts against the Sharks.
Ward, who was playing his second NHL game overall, was a plus-1 with one shot on goal in 10:20 of ice time. Lee was even over eight minutes, contributing one shot, a hit and a block.
“They did an amazing job in my opinion,” Fiala said. “It’s not easy to come in and make an impact right away. We’re missing a lot of guys. It’s not just one guy or two guys, and important guys too. Everybody’s important, but you know what I mean. Happy for them to get one under their belt. It’s too bad we couldn’t get the win. On to the next one.”
Alex Turcotte took advantage of some extra ice time as well. He averages 10:15 this season, but played a season-high 17:22 against the Sharks, contributing a goal and an assist to extend his point streak to three games.
“He deserves it,” Fiala said of the extra ice time. “He’s a great player. You can see it, he’s getting rewarded. He’s always working hard every day since I got here, winning battles, doing those little things, making plays. He’s just a reliable player and I’m very, very happy for him. He’s getting the chance now to play more and he’s playing better.”
The Jets have lost 11 games in a row (0-7-4) following their 4-3 defeat to the visiting Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night.
It’s the franchise’s longest winless streak since the team moved from Atlanta to Winnipeg in 2011.
“You have to coach the games, you have to be in these games,” Jets coach Scott Arniel said. “You just can’t say, ‘OK, it’s been a hard year, it’s been tough, we’re not going to show up.’ … Those guys are driving each other and I’m driving them as a coach. You’re just finding a way to maybe, just maybe, there’s a streak that’s coming that we can jump on.”
–Field Level Media
