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Pacific Division Round Up: Kings goaltending woes continue

Posted on by Haley Van Horn

The Los Angeles Kings have taken another blow, losing both their starting and backup goaltenders to injury. They’ve called up both of their AHL affiliate goaltenders from the Ontario Reign, leaving the Reign in a bind as well (good news for the Barracuda!). You may be too busy celebrating the Kings’ failure and the Sharks’ swim up to first place in the division to keep up with our enemies. Here’s what you may have missed.

Anaheim Ducks (8-9-5)

The Ducks had a stacked week, playing four games since Monday. They ended up only winning one of them, so we should celebrate that. They beat the Nashville Predators 2-1 in a shootout. Ryan Getzlaf had a second period goal, giving the Ducks the lead. Nashville tied it up in the third, sending the game to a shootout. Rickard Rakell netted the winning goal for Anaheim. They played an ugly game on Wednesday against the Vegas Golden Knights. They lost that one 5-0, yikes.

The Toronto Maple Leafs rolled into town and the Ducks put up a fight. This one went to overtime, where the Ducks lost 2-1. Our old friend Patrick Marleau scored on the Ducks early in the first period, and obviously, we love to see that. Pontus Aberg scored in the second period to tie it up, but it would be Morgan Rielly who would have the last laugh. He scored in the extra frame to give the Leafs one of their three wins on their California road trip. The Ducks played again on Sunday and lost again in overtime, this time 4-3 against the Colorado Avalanche. Brandon Montour had one goal and two assists for Anaheim. The other two goals were scored by Ryan Getzlaf and Ondrej Kase.

The Vancouver Canucks roll into Anaheim on Wednesday at 7 PT.

Arizona Coyotes (9-9-1)

So, the future Stanley Cup Champion Arizona Coyotes didn’t have as hot of a week. They lost 6-1 to the Detroit Red Wings. It wasn’t a great one for the Desert Dogs. Lawson Crouse had the only Arizona goal. Darcy Kuemper allowed five goals before being replaced by Hunter Miska, who allowed one. They bounced back against the Nashville Predators. They won 2-1 two days after being killed by Detroit. Our boy Jason Demers netted his first goal of the season on Pekka Rinne — before taking a hit to his knee courtesy of Kyle Turris that may take him out for the rest of the season. Michael Grabner had the second goal.

Things went south again for Arizona when the Boston Bruins rolled into town. The Bruins scored two goals in the first period, but Brad Richardson scored in the second period to bring some life back into the Desert Dogs. The third period went scoreless, giving the Bruins a win on the road.

The Vegas Golden Knights head to Arizona on Wednesday at 6 PT.

Calgary Flames (11-8-1)

The Flames only played two games this week. The first was against the Montreal Canadiens, which they lost 3-2. Carey Price made 43 saves, giving the Canadiens the win. The Flames got on the board in the second period when Matthew Tkachuk scored two goals, one on the power play. Montreal went on to score two goals in the third.

The Flames beat their local rivals, the Edmonton Oilers, 4-2 on Saturday. Elias Lindholm scored two goals in the third period. The two other goals were scored by Sean Monahan and Derek Ryan. Fans seem to be getting a bit frustrated with having Mike Smith as their starting goalie. Backup David Rittich started and walked away with a .923 save percentage. Will we see a goaltending change in Calgary?

The Flames face the Golden Knights today at 6 PT.

Edmonton Oilers (9-10-1)

The Edmonton Oilers started their week off with a 6-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens. Leon Draisaitl, Matt Benning, Kris Russell, Drake Caggiula, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Darnell Nurse all got on the scoreboard. Connor McDavid didn’t score, but he assisted half of the goals. They lost to the Calgary Flames on Saturday, but Alex Chiasson and Connor McDavid each had a goal.

Edmonton lost again against the Vegas Golden Knights. This one was a tough 6-3 loss. Connor McDavid and Alex Chiasson scored in the opening period before Vegas notched three unanswered goals in the second period. Leon Draisaitl scored in the third period, but Vegas scored two more goals to win the game.

The Oilers play our Sharks on Tuesday at 7:30 PT.

Los Angeles Kings (6-12-1)

The Kings started their week off with a 5-1 loss from the Toronto Maple Leafs. Patrick Marleau didn’t score against his once worst rivals, but he did have an assist. Peter Budaj started in goal for the Kings but was pulled after allowing four goals. Cal Petersen, in his second professional season, took over and allowed one goal. The one Kings goal was scored by Adrian Kempe.

The Kings were able to pull off a shootout win against the Chicago Blackhawks. Tyler Toffoli scored the only regulation goal for the Kings. The game moved on to a shootout, where Cal Petersen was in net and didn’t allow a single goal. Anze Kopitar scored the shootout winner. The Kings had one more loss in the tank, though, this time to the Nashville Predators. Kopitar and Toffoli each had goals again, while Nate Thompson had the third LA goal. Petersen made 38 saves, giving him a .905 save percentage.

It’s important to note that Budaj, who is backing up Cal Petersen, fell ill on their road trip and was questionable to sit in as backup. Their goaltending coach, Bill Ranford, skated in practice in case he needed to step in as back up. This organization is going through a lot. They also traded Tanner Pearson to the Pittsburgh Penguins for Carl Hagelin, in a swap of underperformers. Should the Kings just wave their white flag? Rumor has it Jonathan Quick should be skating soon. I think the Kings are counting down the seconds until his return.

Vancouver Canucks (10-10-2)

The Vancouver Canucks are still sitting in a playoff spot, although they had a tough week. They played four games and lost every single one of them. The first loss was against the Rangers where  they lost 2-1. Nikolay Goldobin, of all people, had the lone Vancouver goal. They lost 5-2 to the New York Islanders next. Brendan Leipsic and Jake Virtanen had a goal a piece. They continued their tough road trip in Minnesota, losing 6-2 to the Wild. Markus Granlund and Bo Horvat had the goals.

The Canucks went home to face the Montreal Canadiens; and you guessed it, they lost again. At least this one was close, they only lost by a point. The 3-2 victory saw goals from Michael Del Zotto, his first of the season, and Elias Pettersson, who leads the Canucks in points. Maybe things will get better for them next week?

They’ll look to turn their luck around against the Winnipeg Jets today at 7 PT.

Vegas Golden Knights (9-11-1)

The only team worse than the Vegas Golden Knights in the Pacific right now is the Los Angeles Kings. What a time to be alive! They started their week off with a 5-0 victory over the Anaheim Ducks. Cody Eakin had two goals, while Nick Holden, Alex Tuch and Tomas Hyka each had one. Marc-Andre Fleury made 29 saves. Then the St. Louis Blues blew into town on their West Coast road trip. They handed Vegas a 5-1 defeat. William Carrier had the only Vegas goal, while once rumored possible Shark Ryan O’Reilly netted two for St. Louis.

The Golden Knights redeemed themselves when they went up to Edmonton. That one ended with a 6-3 score. Jonathan Marchessault had two goals and an assist, Colin Miller racked up three assists on six goals. and Marc-Andre Fleury made another 29 saves. The other Vegas goals came off the sticks of Reilly Smith, William Karlsson, Cody Eakin, and Max Pacioretty. What an entertaining game.

Vegas hopes to stay lucky as they head to Calgary today at 6 PT.

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