LOS ANGELES -- Play 82 games, and it's inevitable that there will be nights like this.
When even the sharpest focus gets blurry.
When the work ethic wavers.
When the usually stout defensive structure crumbles.
When so much goes so wrong, the way it did throughout the Penguins' 6-2 loss to the Kings at Crypto.com Arena Thursday night.
"My experience of coaching in this league is that when you go through an 80-plus game schedule, some nights, it's a struggle," Mike Sullivan said. And this was one of them for us."
As impressive as Los Angeles was -- the Kings were fast and skilled and relentless -- the outcome was sculpted more by all the things the Penguins didn't do well.
Which was just about everything, aside from Tristan Jarry's goaltending for much of the evening.
"There's not really an explanation," Dominik Simon said. "We just didn't play good, you know? ... It was really a bad game from us. We just didn't deserve to win."
No, they didn't. The Penguins probably deserved to lose by more than four, and surely would have if Jarry hadn't singlehandedly kept the score competitive, even when the game wasn't.
For 40-plus minutes, he had them poised to pick up at least one point that, by almost any measure, they did not deserve.
"I thought he was awesome the whole game," Teddy Blueger said. "We kind of hung him out to dry a little bit."
Which is to say, a lot.
The Penguins have been one of the NHL's most stingy defensive teams this season, and their strong defensive play, coupled with Jarry's goaltending, is a major reason they had won 11 of their previous 12 games.
On this night, however, their work in their own zone mostly ran the gamut from poor to porous.
"Obviously, we gave up too many chances," Blueger said.
The Kings finished with 45 shots on goal. No more than, oh, roughly 42 of them were solid scoring opportunities
"This obviously wasn't our best," Sullivan said. "It was just a struggle, all night long for our group. Give L.A. credit; they played extremely hard. Bu we've got to be better."
Sullivan was decidedly composed while speaking with reporters after the game, but had been visibly upset after the Kings' third goal, which proved to be the game-winner and came just 90 seconds after Radim Zohorna had pulled the Penguins even early in the third period.
The Kings went in front to stay when Mikey Anderson scored after a faceoff in the Penguins' end, beating Jarry from the right point.
Sullivan was upset because he felt that the play that preceded the goal should have been ruled an icing against Los Angeles, but was told by the officials that icing was negated because the puck had struck a Penguin's skate before caroming off the back boards and toward the front of the net, where Jarry covered it.
Jarry causing the stoppage gave the Kings the choice of which side they wanted the faceoff to take place, triggering the sequence that led to Anderson's goal.
"The third goal was a tough one," Sullivan said. "The one where they said it wasn't an icing, and my understanding is that it's an icing. I don't quite understand their interpretation of the rule. The ref said that there was a shot on goal, and therefore (the Kings) can choose the side they take the draw on because Tristan tied it up.
"But they also said that it hit the player's skate, and that negates the icing. It's not a shot on goal. It went off the backboard, then came out into the blue paint. That's not my understanding of the interpretation of the rule. ... That was a big goal for them."
That's because Anderson's goal was the first of three the Kings scored in a span of 83 seconds to transform a 2-2 tie into a 5-2 blowout. Although Sean Durzi rubbed it in by scoring with one minute, 40 seconds to go in regulation, the game effectively ended when Anderson, Viktor Arvidsson and Anze Kopitar teamed up on that field goal.
"It's hard, when you give up multiple goals in that amount of time," Sullivan said.
The game actually had tilted in the Penguins' favor early. After Los Angeles dominated the first few shifts of the opening period, Kris Letang gave the Penguins a 1-0 lead when his backhander from below the goal line to the left of the net hit the right skate of Kings goalie Jonathan Quick and skidded into the net.
Kopitar got that one back just over nine minutes later, however, when Kasperi Kapanen lost the puck in the slot just after colliding with Mike Matheson, allowing Kopitar to pounce on it and whip a shot past Jarry.
Slap Shot? More like slapstick.
Nonetheless, the only other goal Jarry allowed during the first two periods came when Dustin Brown scored from the right side of the side of the crease during a power play at 14:32 of the second. And when Zahorna made it 2-2, the Penguins actually were in position to salvage a little dignity and maybe even a point or two.
Not for long, though, because that decisive three-goal outburst began a minute and a half later.
Los Angeles probably isn't as good as it looked against the Penguins -- few teams are -- but the Kings' rebuild is progressing nicely and they're a legitimate playoff contender in the Western Conference.
"We knew they were a good team," Blueger said. "They're pretty structured, good through the neutral zone. We were expecting that. I don't think it was a matter of taking them lightly."
Nor had there been any indication before the game that the Penguins were in for such a miserable evening
."I didn't see it coming," Sullivan said. ""We'd played pretty consistent hockey all year long. "
The Penguins really are far more efficient most of the time, as evidenced by their 21-20-5 record, which is why they seem confident that this loss, no matter how much it stung, was a 60-minute aberration. Inevitable, yes, but unlikely to be habit-forming.
"It was one game," Simon said. "I wouldn't say something is missing now. That game just wasn't our good game, for sure."
MORE FROM THE GAME
• Evgeni Malkin, playing in his second game of the season, seemed intent on challenging for the NHL lead in turnovers. That he was not credited with a single giveaway just might go down as one of the great mysteries in recorded history.
• Jake Guentzel was scoreless, snapping his streaks of at least one point in each of his previous 18 games and in each of the previous 15 road games in which he had appeared this season.
• Despite the lopsided loss, every member of the Zahorna-Blueger-Simon line finished with a plus-minus rating of plus-2. Thirtteen of the other 15 skaters were minuses; Chad Ruhwedel and Matheson were even.
• The Penguins were crushed on faceoffs, winning just 22 of 53. Sidney Crosby had a particularly tough night, going 3-12. Kopitar was typically outstanding, controlling 15 of 20,
• Kings defenseman Olli Maatta, who broke into the NHL with the Penguins, was spotted catching up with a number of his former teammates near the visitors locker room after the game.
• Brown's power-play goal was his 700th point in the NHL.
• Because COVID-19 forced three members of the Kings' support to miss the game, Aisha Visram, head athletic trainer of Los Angeles' top farm team, worked the game. She is believed to be the first female to work an NHL game behind the bench in any capacity.
• The Penguins, who generally travel immediately after games, stayed in Los Angeles Thursday night and will fly to San Jose Friday.
THE ESSENTIALS
THE THREE STARS
As selected at Crypto.com Arena:
1. Anze Kopitar, Kings
2. Mikey Anderson, Kings
3. Sean Durzi, Kings
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE INJURIES
• Jason Zucker has missed the past six games and is listed as week-to-week because of an unspecified lower-body injury. He has resumed some on-ice workouts and participated in the Penguins' optional game-day skate Thursday.
THE LINEUPS
Sullivan's lines and pairings:
Jake Guentzel-Sidney Crosby-Evan Rodrigues
Jeff Carter-Evgeni Malkin-Kasperi Kapanen
Radim Zohorna-Teddy Blueger-Dominik Simon
Kasper Bjorkqvist-Brian Boyle-Drew O'Connor
Brian Dumoulin-Kris Letang
Marcus Pettersson-John Marino
Mike Matheson-Chad Ruhwedel
And for Todd McLellan's Kings:
Alex Iafallo-Anze Kopitar-Adrian Kempe
Trevor Moore-Phillip Danault-Viktor Arvidsson
Alex Turcottte-Rasmus Kupari-Dustin Brown
Samuel Fagemo-Blake Lizotte-Arthur Kaliyev
Mikey Anderson-Drew Doughty
Olli Maatta-Matt Roy
Tobias Bjornfot-Sean Durzi
THE SCHEDULE
The Penguins are scheduled to have a day off Friday and will face the Sharks Saturday at 10:38 p.m. at SAP Center in San Jose.
THE CONTENT
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