For the first time this season, the Los Angeles Kings have lost two straight games in regulation as they lost 4-2 to Mikko Rantanen and the Colorado Avalanche. As I’ve mentioned several times, the Kings have been outstanding in responding with excellent performances after a loss and after the first 20 minutes of last night’s game it looked like that was going to continue.

If you only watched the first half of the game, you probably scratched your head thinking that the Kings came up short. They came out with a lot of energy, which was almost completely non-existent in their game against the Calgary Flames on Monday night. The problem was that this aggressive and energetic style of play only lasted 20 minutes while the next two periods were completely controlled by the Avalanche.

“They pushed it and we didn’t do a very good job of managing it. I thought for some reason once we got into the second period we were really struggling to connect on passes, turn pucks over because we just couldn’t get out of the defensive zone. said head coach Jim Hiller.

Colorado’s offense relies primarily on three players, and that’s something the Kings couldn’t contain as Rantanen scored three of the Avalanche’s four goals. Although Rantanen managed to get his looks back, the Kings didn’t give up many prime chances beyond that, even though the Avalanche had puck control for most of the game. The Kings didn’t generate, but they also didn’t have any glaring defensive breakdowns.

Speaking of not giving up a lot of quality looks, the Kings also went 3/3 on the penalty kill, not giving up a single shot on goal on the Avalanche power plays.

“It’s starting to click more, I think we’re starting to put a lot more pressure on. Against a high-level power play like that, I thought we did a really good job in that area. said striker Adrian Kempe.

Inability to get pucks on net hurt their chances of winning

In the first 16 minutes of the game, the Kings had nine shots on goal. It took them 23:15 to register another shot after that. Not a single puck was put on net by the Kings in the second period and they managed just six in the third to bring their total shots to 15.

Avalanche goaltender Alexander Georgiev had the easiest two periods of his life as the Kings generated literally nothing after the first period. They barely touched the puck and when they did, they made things too complicated. After a simple first period of hockey in which they drove the puck deep and used violent forechecks to win those battles, everything completely disappeared for the next 40 minutes. Too many cute passes in the neutral zone led to multiple turnovers, making it difficult even for them to advance the puck past the red line, and when they had the chance to get a quick shot on goal , someone always chose to make that extra pass, which led to nothing other than the Avalanche regaining possession.

Related: LA Kings game notes: Outscored in 2-1 loss to Flames

It’s very rare for a team to win games when the most shots they take is 15, but there is something that makes this even more disappointing for the Kings. Fifteen shots are brutal, but testing Georgiev only so few is a huge missed opportunity. He has the worst save percentage of all goaltenders in the NHL who has played more than four games this season. If there’s ever a game where getting the puck to the net is the most important key to success, it’s this one. They could have added some spice to a goalie who has struggled mightily this season, but instead they hurt themselves by barely making Georgiev work. They scored two goals on nine shots, all they had to do was keep shooting on goal, but they just couldn’t figure it out.

Line 12-11-9 was the only one to produce

Clearly, the Kings didn’t do a lot of offensive production and chance creation last night. That being said, the offense created came from a single line.

In the last game against the Calgary Flames where they were severely dominated, Hiller decided to promote Trevor Moore to the first line with Anze Kopitar and Kempe in hopes of creating a spark. This line ended up being the most effective during the second half of this match.

This Kings top line has seen a variety of wingers on the left side over the course of 18 games. Moore played with Kopitar and Kempe in previous seasons and after a small spark was ignited in Calgary, Hiller opted to run with the trio again.

“He (Moore) always brings energy, obviously a very good player, can shoot the puck, can pass the puck, so it was fun to play with him (…) it was good to have him back on the line,” Kempe said.

Right from the start, this line hit the ground running. Thirty-two seconds later, Kopitar fed the puck to Moore who quickly fed it to Kempe who was initially stopped on his quick release. Kempe followed his shot and scored on his second effort opportunity, giving the Kings the early momentum.

Fifteen minutes later, it was the same three players who scored the Kings’ second and final goal of the evening. Moore collected the puck on the left half-wall before firing it to Kopitar in the middle who then found Kempe all alone for an easy tap-in through the back door. Kempe scored his second of the evening and his seventh of the season.

On the Kings’ four lines, 12-11-9 was the only one to have a Corsi for percentage (CF%) and Fenwick (FF) greater than 50%meaning they were the only line creating more shots and opportunities than allowing any against them. They led all lines in time on ice with 13:04 and had the most faceoffs in all three zones. It was the only line that worked and their ice time and production levels proved it.

An upcoming three-game homestand is scheduled for the Kings. They will host the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday, the Buffalo Sabers next Wednesday (November 20) and the Seattle Kraken the following Saturday (November 23). All three opponents are very beatable for the Kings and if they return to their simple, fast-paced game and stick with it for all three periods, there’s no reason why they can’t pick up six points.