LOS ANGELES –– The Kings were not able to invest like a contender at the trade deadline nor did they play like one a night after it passed, falling 4-1 to the Dallas Stars at Crypto.com Arena on Saturday.
The Kings moved back into a points tie for third in the Pacific with the refortified Vegas Golden Knights, who made three significant moves at the deadline. Dallas earned a four-point lead in the Central Division over the Winnipeg Jets, and they’ve beaten the Kings twice by a 9-2 aggregate score this season.
“You look at the two games, they beat us handily both times. I thought we were ready for them, they shouldn’t have caught us off-guard, because they already gave us a licking,” Kings interim coach Jim Hiller said. “Give them credit, they just came in and outplayed us in every area of the game.”
“They played a playoff-style game, and we did not,” he added. “To beat a team like that, you’ve got to play a playoff-style game, and we didn’t have it in us.”
Kevin Fiala scored the Kings’ only goal in the first minute of the match. Cam Talbot stopped 31 of 34 shots in an affair that saw the Kings get out-chanced 20-7. Adrian Kempe (upper-body) returned after a five-game absence, playing nearly 21 minutes and recording a shot on goal.
Arcadia native Jason Robertson and old foe Joe Pavelski assisted on each other’s goals. Radek Faksa and Wyatt Johnston also tallied for Dallas. Scott Wedgewood made 24 saves.
Kempe, who was the Kings’ leading scorer when he was injured, was engaged, but did not seem to provide much of a lift to the group as a whole on Saturday.
“It just felt like we lost our step, we lost our jam for whatever reason. So, [do] we think we’re a better team now because we have him back? We should be, for sure,” Hiller said. “But if you don’t bring your ‘A’ game, and that’s everybody else … we just didn’t have that game tonight.”
Saturday’s third period would bring little respite and limited opportunity for the Kings.
The Stars cemented their victory when Pavelski’s backhanded lob from the far blue line lofted over Fiala and the outstretched Drew Doughty and into the empty net with 3:40 to play.
Dallas gained separation 6:47 into the closing stanza. Three Stars had dangerous shot attempts on their fourth power play, including Mason Marchment pinging the post, backing the Kings up before Johnston tallied off a rebound with two seconds left in Phillip Danault’s penalty.
“A power play like that, it’s going to get you eventually,” Hiller said.
The middle frame was more even than the opening one in terms of possession but scoring chances were 16-3 in favor of Dallas at its conclusion, per Natural Stat Trick. The visitors finally broke through just past the midway mark when they scored two goals in 18 seconds.
First, Arthur Kaliyev lost a board battle after he was double teamed behind the Dallas net. Dallas darted off on a tempered, length-of-the-ice counterattack that became a Faksa goal from the high slot in part because of Kaliyev’s feeble effort on the backcheck. Faksa netted a goal for a second straight game and for the third time in four outings after scoring just three in 53 prior appearances this season.
Then, Dallas scored on another transition play, where they didn’t have numbers, as Pavelski turned a three-on-four rush into a sneaky redirection goal from the low slot by Robertson.
“We’ve got to work hard and play physical. It wasn’t our most physical game out there tonight. They were heavier and stronger than we were,” said Kempe, who eased his way into the game and was effective on the penalty kill.
The first period began auspiciously and saw the Kings draw three penalties, yet they still trailed by wide margins in shots on goal (14-6 with an additional eight Dallas attempts blocked to the Kings’ 1) and scoring chances (8-1). In the only count that mattered, they led 1-0 thanks to the game’s first shot.
The Kings put themselves on the board just 26 seconds after they won the opening faceoff, punishing the Stars for a turnover. Miro Heiskanen’s pass around the back rim of his own zone zipped past partner Thomas Harley and onto Doughty’s stick. He made a heady, authoritative pass to a cutting Fiala for a redirection goal, his 21st tally of the season.
“If you think about our forecheck and the times we put the puck behind them and went in and forechecked, that was one of very few. That one turned into a goal,” Hiller said.
Kempe rued that his return wasn’t as impactful as he hoped and that the result was lopsided, but he was already turning the page to the finale of this five-game homestand against the New York Islanders.
“This is the toughest time of the year here, right before the playoffs, because everybody’s so desperate for the points,” Kempe said. “We lost tonight. We’ve got to come back tomorrow and be better, then move on and win against the Islanders Monday.”