It isn't often that the Carolina Hurricanes, who play a defensive-oriented system, get seven goals scored on them in a single game. However, that was their fate on Saturday against the Los Angeles Kings.
The Hurricanes, who entered Saturday's tilt against Los Angeles in second place in the Metropolitan Division, were dealt an embarrassing loss at Crypto.com Arena. The Kings earned a decisive 7-2 victory, improving to 38-21-9; the Hurricanes fell to 42-23-4 and lost for the first time in eight games.
The Kings seized a 3-0 lead in the opening 20 minutes of play with goals from Adrian Kempe, Anze Kopitar and Andrei Kuzmenko. The onslaught continued into the second period, as the Kings doubled their lead to 6-0 after goals from Trevor Moore, Tanner Jeannot and Quinton Byfield.
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The Hurricanes finally managed to break the shutout bid of David Rittich thanks to a goal from Dmitri Orlov; the score heading into the second intermission was 6-1 for the Kings.
Los Angeles then increased the lead to 7-1 late in the third period after a goal from Kevin Fiala; Carolina picked up a late goal from Mark Jankowski.
Kings goaltender David Rittich was on top of his game, making 34 saves. Carolina's Pyotr Kovhetkov allowed all seven goals against in what was a subpar outing.
3 least impressive Carolina Hurricanes players from 7-2 loss to Los Angeles Kings
#1. Pyotr Kochetkov
Simply put, this was not Kochetkov's afternoon. He allowed all seven goals that the Kings scored in the contest, finishing with a subpar save percentage of .720 and seeing his goals-against average for the season increase to 2.49.
Bad games happen, and fortunately for the Hurricanes, it came after an eight-game winning streak. Kochetkov can simply flush this game and get ready for the next one.
#2. Jesperi Kotkaniemi
The normally reliable Hurricanes forward was caught out of position several times during the loss against the Kings.
Not only did he finish with a -3 rating, which was tied for worst among all Hurricanes forwards, but he also took a costly penalty while managing only a single shot on goal with no points scored.
#3. Jaccob Slavin
Speaking of reliable players who were not at their best against Los Angeles, top Hurricanes blue liner Jaccob Slavin finished with a -3 rating, the worst among all Carolina defensemen during the loss. He also was guilty of a giveaway.
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