Kings’ rally stalls in overtime loss to Hurricanes

LOS ANGELES — The Kings rallied from three goals down to steal a point from the undefeated Carolina Hurricanes but still lost, 4-3 in overtime, at Crypto.com Arena on Saturday night.

Wins have been tough to come by for the Kings (1-3-2), but they could perhaps draw a small moral victory from circling the wagons against the Hurricanes (5-0-0).

“They start better than anybody in the National Hockey League, they’re very consistent,” Kings coach Jim Hiller said. “They come at you with a pace that you can’t work your way into. It shouldn’t have surprised us. That’s the most disappointing part of the game. When we got going, we got competitive, but we weren’t ready to play at the pace they were ready to play at, and they’re known for that.

Trevor Moore, Andrei Kuzmenko and Kevin Fiala each lit the lamp for the Kings. Adrian Kempe contributed two assists. Anton Forsberg made 36 saves with Darcy Kuemper (lower-body) again unavailable, keeping the Kings alive against a tenacious opponent.

Carolina captain Jordan Staal tallied twice and Kasperi Kotkaniemi also scored before Seth Jarvis deposited the OT winner. K’Andre Miller chipped in a pair of assists and joined former King Sean Walker in logging over 26 minutes. Brandon Bussi moved to 2-0-0 in his second career start, stopping 25 shots.

With 3:15 displayed on the OT clock, Jarvis disregarded the Kings’ momentum, coolly snapping home the winning goal to preserve Carolina’s unblemished record.

With 3:30 remaining in regulation, the Kings nearly capped their comeback when Moore stripped rookie Alexander Nikishin at the defensive blue line, only to miss the net on his breakaway attempt.

The Kings had clawed their way back even, with 8:58 to play. Off the rush, Kempe left a drop pass for Fiala, who glided into the right faceoff dot to rip home an equalizer.

“We kind of want to pick guys and open up space for other people, so that was something I tried to do,” Kempe said. “I opened it up for Kevin, who’s a great shooter. It was an important goal.”

Alex Laferriere, who centered the top line in place of the injured Anže Kopitar (foot, week-to-week), nearly knotted the score early in the third period. His backhand bid was denied emphatically by Bussi.

The second period began inauspiciously for the Kings, but ultimately put them within striking distance of an opponent that had threatened to run away with the game.

Carolina extended its lead to 3-0, padding their advantage 3:43 into the stanza. Kotkaniemi finished a rare two-on-none break all by himself thanks to a Kings gaffe at the offensive blue line.

“We checked hard, we played strong defense, but what killed us was turning the puck over in spots where we just can’t do it,” Hiller said.

The Kings recovered that marker less than a minute later when Moore broke up Bussi’s shutout. Moore stepped into one shot attempt from the slot that was blocked and then launched a second that became his second goal of the season.

Warren Foegele then had a goal disallowed for goalie interference, leaving the count at 3-1 until the Kings struck on the power play with 3:56 left in the frame. Kempe’s deflected shot attempt came to Quinton Byfield, who one-touched the puck across the blue paint to Kuzmenko for a redirection tally.

The opening four minutes of the match put the Kings in a hole that they did little of note to climb out of in the rest of the first period.

Calamity struck just 12 seconds into the contest. William Carrier beat Cody Ceci cleanly for position and the puck, dipping behind the net and dishing back toward the opposite post for Staal. His goal was the 300th tally of his career.

“(Staal) was so impactful tonight; that line was great,” said Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour, pointing out that Staal won over 90% of his faceoffs.

Kempe took a penalty 41 seconds after puck-drop, which the Kings killed, only to cede No. 301 to Staal at 3:58. Samuel Helenius chased the puck below the goalline, leaving Staal completely unmarked in the slot for a one-timer.

“Everybody saw that the start wasn’t good enough. We were talking about it on the bench, we were talking about after the first period,” Kempe said. “All it takes is one O-zone shift, one hit, or getting in the forecheck and everybody starts to feel better. We just have to make sure everybody is ready to play when the puck drops.”