Darcy Kuemper did his part Tuesday night. The Kings just didn’t give him nearly enough support.
In his return to Crypto.com Arena, Kuemper turned aside 26 of 28 shots and looked far more like the goalie Los Angeles expects him to be. He was steady through long stretches and came up with several key stops late, but the home opener still slipped away in a 2-1 loss to Florida. The defeat left the Kings winless through their first three games.
Los Angeles actually opened the scoring, and it came on a smart little sequence that started with Alex Laferriere. He won the race to a dump-in, Erik Haula eventually worked the puck behind the net, and Haula’s wraparound chance left the rebound sitting in Laferriere’s wheelhouse at the far post. With the cage open, Laferriere finished at 19:00 of the first to make it 1-0.
That lead didn’t last long once Florida got its chance. Just six seconds after the last penalty expired, the Panthers pushed back the other way and tied it when Seth Jones finished off a rush at 3:49. Jones took a pass from Lars Eller, used his skating to get around Artemi Panarin, and drove to the net before beating Kuemper.
From there, the Kings’ power play never found a rhythm. They went 0-for-5 with the man advantage, while the penalty kill was perfect at 6-for-6. It was one of the few parts of the night that went cleanly for Los Angeles.
The Panthers broke through for the deciding goal late in the third. Clarke’s turnover in the neutral zone opened the door for Florida in transition, and Sam Bennett found Tkachuk sliding into space on the left side. Tkachuk snapped the puck through Kuemper with 8:40 left to put Florida ahead for good.
Los Angeles still had life after that, including a late push with Kuemper on the bench, but Markström held firm and shut the door.
The bigger problem for the Kings was the same one that has already shown up in their first two games. After scoring four goals in each of those losses, they managed just 20 shots against Florida and couldn’t turn a better defensive showing into their first win.
Kuemper delivered the kind of outing that should give a team a chance. The offense didn’t meet him there.
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Kings Improvement Is Being Wasted By One Frustrating Problem
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The problem is that the improvement keeps getting interrupted by untimely penalties, and the latest game was no exception. Los Angeles spent too much time shorthanded, which broke up its offensive rhythm and kept the power play from building anything meaningful, turning a game that could have settled into a cleaner flow into another frustrating night of chasing the details. [Read more 🡒]