In Los Angeles, Max Pacioretty scored two goals and the Vegas Golden Knights defeated the Kings, 4-2 on Friday night.
Robin Lehner returned to the lineup for Vegas and made 23 save in the win.
“Everybody on our team played a strong game tonight, and Robin obviously included,” Pacioretty said. “It’s not easy to come back after such a long time off, and he kind of picked up and fit in right away, which is nice to see.”
Alex Iafallo and Trevor Moore scored for LA.
“We played hard enough and long enough to stay in the game but just loose enough to lose it,” Los Angeles head coach Todd McLellan said. “… We were the second-best team, for sure.”
William Karlsson broke a 2-2 tie in the middle frame to give the Knights a 3-2 lead.
“We were very poor in about 40 square feet of ice in front of our net, whether it was tip-ins, deflections, pass-outs from below the goal line,” McLellan said. “Just loose, sloppy.”
William Carrier iced the game for Vegas with a goal midway through the third period.
“We got back to the bench, a couple guys mentioned that you could tell on video,” Pacioretty said. “Every angle I saw, I couldn’t tell, but they were pretty adamant about it. That being said, I didn’t want them to jinx it.”
Jonathan Quick made 29 saves in the loss.
“We take a punch or two to the face, and then we get ourselves off the mat, we continue to battle,” McLellan said. “And now that’s in our game, that’s in our DNA. That’s a moral victory. I think we’re a better team than we played tonight. I think we showed ’em a little too much respect and disrespected what we’re capable of doing.”
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