It was a day of net front shots, deflected pucks and rebound opportunities for the Utah Mammoth.
And yet, every time it felt as if the Mammoth were going to get a puck to bounce into the back of the net, the Kings always had the perfect response with each blocked shot, stolen rebound and save from Darcy Kuemper.
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The biggest reason why the Kings won 4-2 at the Delta Center was because the team did a better job taking advantage of miscues from the Mammoth, specifically in the first period.
n the Kings’ first goal, Adrian Kempe singlehandedly baited the Mammoth into miscue after miscue, ultimately putting Utah in an early deficit.
Most of the time, a rush like that from the opposing team doesn’t turn into a goal. Utah had players back on defense, and both Daniil But and Dylan Guenther were in the area ready to steal the puck from behind.
But what was a pretty standard rush turned into a golden opportunity for Kempe when Nate Schmidt not only swung and missed the puck by a millimeter, but also slid far enough over to give Kempe a wide-open lane to the net.
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Kempe’s moves didn’t stop there. He faked Vejmelka into thinking he would take a shot from his forehand. Instead, Kempe switched to his backhand, and Vejmelka was too slow to react.
A slight overcommitment from Schmidt suddenly had turned into a first-period deficit for Utah.
Minutes later, Los Angeles benefited from another Utah mistake, with Joel Armia scoring on a breakaway.
Sure, Kevin Fiala made an incredibly precise pass that deserves a ton of credit, but letting Armia slip past like that while the puck is still in Utah’s offensive zone is a mistake the Mammoth simply can’t make.
And even with Vejmelka partially deflecting Armia’s shot, the Kings still scored and capitalized on another critical error from Utah.
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“We obviously didn’t have the start we were hoping for, and we needed to,” said André Tourigny. “Unfortunately, when you have that kind of a start, I often repeat in front of you, it’s a one-goal game all the time, so you cannot give any free opportunities to your opponent. I didn’t like our start, and, like I said, a really good second and third.”
Though Utah tightened its game significantly after the goal, taking control of the second period by delivering hard hits, forcing takeaways and getting a power-play score from Dylan Guenther, the early mistakes still proved costly.
Utah’s effort in the second had only cut the lead down to 2-1 and its first period mistakes were still looming over the game.
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Once Anze Kopitar turned a loose rebound in front of Utah’s net into the Kings’ third goal of the game, Utah found itself back in the same position it was in during the first: down by two goals.
“Not a great first from us,” said Keller. “We were able to kind of bounce back in the second. That’s one of our best second periods of the year in terms of everything. Game management and trying to outchange them and use our speed. It sucks to have that little push there and not be able to get it done.”
The Mammoth kept things interesting for the Kings with plenty of shot attempts in the blue paint and even Keller scoring a goal to cut the lead to 3-2, but that’s as close as Utah got to tying the game.
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The Kings finished the game off with an empty net goal to go up 4-2 and win the game.
“I think we understood that wasn’t our best tonight, even though we fought and clawed at the end there. That’s a good hockey team,” said Brandon Tanev. “At the end of the day, we need to understand what makes us successful. Work on that in practice, and then we’ve got to get back here for the next one.”
Now Utah will need to look forward to its next game, as it plays the Florida Panthers on home ice on Dec. 10. And with Logan Cooley out indefinitely, Utah will need to figure out ways it can win without him.