In Los Angeles Tuesday night, the Anaheim Ducks were dominant in a 4-0 win over the Kings; it was LA’s third straight loss by shutout.
Rickard Rakell skated in his first game of the season and scored early and added two assists in the win.
Goalie John Gibson (#36) – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
“I just tried to find the timing throughout the game and I started to feel more comfortable the longer the game went on,” Rakell said. “I’m just hoping to build off of this.”
John Gibson had 30 saves to stop the Kings.
Antoine Vermette, Joseph Cramarossa and Ryan Kesler also scored for the Ducks.
For the Kimgs, there is no one stepping up to take control of the offense and help defend in the defensive zone and LA’s bench boss is not happy.
“There’s nobody coming in on a white horse to play goal for us or score goals or to come up from Ontario,” Kings coach Darryl Sutter said. “This is our team … our responsibility is not to use the injuries as an excuse. The responsibility is to try and stay in the race.”
With Jonathan Quick sidelines, the Kings have been replying Peter Budaj in net and he lost his third straight game but is also not getting any offensive support.
Budaj was pulled after the second period in favor of Jack Campbell .
“He wasn’t very good. That’s clear. I don’t pull goalies very often, but they’re expected to make some saves,” Sutter said of his goalie move.
Very little is working for the Kings right now and the inability to push the puck up the ice is hampering the defense as well with scrambling and missed assignments in the zone.
“Tonight was just not the game that we wanted to play, certainly not against a division team,” Anze Kopitar said of the effort Tuesday.
It does not get any easier as the Kings host the Pittsburgh Penguins Thursday and can only hope the Pens are tired after playing in Anaheim Wednesday.
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