Kings look to bounce back in back-to-back games in Dallas, St. Louis – Daily News

0

After losing their last two games by a goal, the Kings now start their first straight set of the season with games against the Dallas Stars on Friday and the St. Louis Blues on Saturday.

Like in Saturday’s 3-2 loss to the Minnesota Wild, the Kings weren’t always sharp on the back failure or when defending high-danger areas in the 2-1 loss. of Tuesday against the Nashville Predators. They allowed a receiving shot between the circles, a lunge goal and a total of wrist shots up from the mouth of the goal against Minnesota, and were beaten by a receiving shot into a tight goal and a rebound. stubborn in Nashville.

“We definitely have work to do. We had some good things in the [Nashville] game, but I think we’re a little too sloppy in our zone and we need to work more together… and win more battles, ”Kings center Phillip Danault told reporters.

While Kings coach Todd McLellan criticized his squad’s inability to establish team flow as a team, his discipline, his performance in the faceoff circle and his handling of the game at times on Tuesday, the Kings weren’t too far off from the results they wanted. As well as missing just one goal each night, they scored first in both games, showing signs of improving starts after opening the scoring just 37.5 percent of the time last season.

A player who enjoys a kickoff famous for his campaign continues to be the center and captain of the Anze Kopitar squad. He scored the lone goal in Tuesday’s loss with a mix of solid puck protection and a deceptive shot. He has scored at least one goal in each of his first three games for a total of five this season.

“Kopi does so many things well, and everyone asks him to shoot the puck a little harder; we’re trying to get it to shoot a little bit more, ”McLellan said. “He knows very well when he should or should not use [his shot]. ”

Secondary scoring, however, has been hard to come by for the Kings. Kopitar had a run on all but one of the Kings’ goals this season, a hopeful shot that hit Danault’s stick and the skate of an opposing defenseman en route to the net. Leading defenseman Drew Doughty has seven points and has also been on the ice for eight of the Kings’ nine goals, dragging play from the back disproportionately like Kopitar did up front.

The Kings will likely need a better balance of scoring and stronger play in the trenches against Dallas and St. Louis, who both have strong lineups in terms of depth and physique.

Brawny forwards Radek Faksa and Michael Raffl kept pace with Dallas scoring in the young season with four points apiece in four games in which Dallas posted a 2-2-0 record.

Veteran defenseman Ryan Suter, who was acquired by Minnesota, was among the Stars’ acquisitions during the offseason. Suter added size and balance to a defensive body that already included prodigy Miro Heiskanen and offensive common sense John Klingberg, who was injured in Dallas’ season opener.

Former Sharks star Joe Pavelski and the once-prolific tandem of Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn have combined to produce just two points so far.

Saint-Louis won its first two games thanks to explosive starts from winger Jordan Kyrou (six points) and defenseman Justin Faulk (four points).

In addition to mainstays such as forwards Ryan O’Reilly and David Perron, the Blues have added veteran winger Brandon Saad to their mix and hope to finally get a long-awaited full campaign from winger Klim Kostin.

They drafted Kostin in the 2017 first round, but after some minor seasoning and serious injury, he spent much of last season in the Russian Continental Hockey League. He has scored two goals in less than a minute in his only game this season.

Kings in Dallas

When: Friday, 5:30 p.m.

Or: American Airlines Center, Dallas

Television / Radio: ESPN / iHeartRadio

Kings in Saint-Louis

When: Saturday, 5 p.m.

Or: Business center, Saint-Louis

Television / Radio: Bally Sports West / iHeartRadio

Leave A Reply

Your email address will not be published.