Late show turns into chiller theater in L.A.
Monster night by Kings’ Kempe more than enough to kill Penguins
LOS ANGELES — Dustin Brown’s pregame jersey retirement and statue unveiling awoke the Kings’ home crowd and kept it energized all night. It also put the Penguinsto sleep.
Just over 24 hours after comfortablybeating the AnaheimDucks 6-3, the Penguins struggledon the second night of a back-to-back, falling to the Kings 6-0 Saturday night — a night highlighted by a four-goal game from Kings wingerAdrian Kempe.
The Brown festivities pushed puck drop more than a half hour past its scheduled starttime.
Less than three minutes into the contest, Jaret Anderson-Dolan deflected a shot from the point by Alexander Edler past Casey DeSmith, who made his second start in asmany nights.
The Penguins controlled the pace of play for much of the remaining 17 minutes of the period, but DeSmith allowed a second shot to slide past him. He stonewalled Rasmus Kupari on a onetimer, but the Kings forward corralled the deflection and pushed the puck to Alex Iafallo,who beat the netminder throughhis five hole.
Pittsburgh did have its chances in the opening 20 minute. Sidney Crosby rattled a slapshot off the Kings’ crossbarduring a power play and Teddy Blueger nearly had an easy goal after an awkward deflection behind Los Angeles’ net in the waning seconds of the first. But, Kings netminder Pheonix Copley managed to turn in his first of three perfect periods.
DeSmith’s night didn’t improve in the middle period, nor did it last much longer. Kempe blasted a shot past him a couple ticks under two minutes into the second, which prompted coach Mike Sullivan to yank DeSmith in favorof Dustin Tokarski.
The change in goalies didn’tbother Kempe. He beat Tokarski on a 3-on-3 breakaway opportunity that may as well have been a 3-on-2. Both Blueger and PierreOlivier Joseph marked a streaking Quinton Byfield, which opened up Kempe to hammer home his second goalof the night.
A Ryan Poehling hooking penalty presented Kempe with a chance to log a powerplay goal to add to his even -strength tallies. Kempe obliged.
The Penguins’ frustrating night boiled over midway through the third period in the form of a 10-minute game misconductfor Crosby. After Los Angeles’ Mikey Andersson was called for crosschecking, Crosby was penalized for the same infraction and jawed with the officials instead of heading to the penalty box, which led to him gettingthe boot.
In the game’s closing minutes, Kempe put the finishing touches on a marvelous night with his fourth consecutive goal, which set a Kings record for scores in succession.
Ice chips
• After sitting out Friday’s game against the Ducks with an illness, Kris Letang returned to partner with Brian Dumoulin on the first defensive unit and reverted back to quarterbacking the Penguins’top power-play unit.
• Chad Ruhwedel sat for the first time since Dec. 30. He was replaced in the lineup by Mark Friedman, who skated with Joseph for the third defensive pairing.
• Just under seven minutes into the third period, Evgeni Malkin and Drew Doughty got into a spat. Malkin delivered a hard hit on Doughty and the two reconvened at center ice, poised to drop their gloves before referees intervened. Malkin was sent to the penalty box for two minutes for slashing.
Stat n’ at
3— Kempe’s Texas hat trick naturally required four goals,but it was also the third hat trick of his career. , Kempe blossomed into a 35goal scorer in 2021-22 and now has 26 in 54 games this year.