< The Latest 2025-10-17T08:38:56+0000
The Pasadena Star-News | Thu 10/16 09:46pm PST | Andrew Knoll
LOS ANGELES — A lower-body injury to Kings icon Anže Kopitar spoiled his much-anticipated matchup with fellow captain Sidney Crosby, whose Pittsburgh Penguins prevailed, 4-2, on Thursday night at Crypto.com Arena.
Pittsburgh trailed by two goals early but broke a tie in the third period with a short-handed tally and then sealed the Kings’ fate in the final minute.
After winning a franchise-record 31 home games last season, the Kings have dropped their first two on home ice and four of five decisions overall to start this campaign.
“It was a good start for us. We got a couple early, and then we let it get away from us in the second [period],” forward Trevor Moore said. “We had a lot of chances in the third, we just have to find a way to put a full 60 [minutes] together.”
Sans Kopitar, the Kings got goals from Warren Foegele and Kevin Fiala. Anton Forsberg made 22 saves in place of No. 1 goalie Darcy Kuemper, who was out with a lower-body injury.
Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Connor Dewar and Filip Hållander scored for Pittsburgh. Erik Karlsson and Parker Wotherspoon had two assists apiece. Artūrs Šilovs halted 30 pucks.
Crosby’s second penalty of the evening came in the final frame, ostensibly giving the Kings life. Instead, it was former Ducks winger Rickard Rakell ringing the iron off a short-handed rush and then creating a rebound for Hållander’s first career goal with 13:10 remaining in the match.
“(Our power play) has been up and down. Tonight was probably our worst night of entering the zone and getting control, particularly on the one in the third period,” Kings coach Jim Hiller said. “That’s a time when you have a chance to win the hockey game, and we didn’t get that done.”
Crosby iced the match with an empty-netter as 30 seconds showed on the game clock.
The Penguins had flipped the script in the second period. They responded with two unanswered goals of their own, 41 seconds apart, at 6:37 and 7:18.
Pittsburgh cashed in on the power play, following a near-miss with a direct hit. Quinton Byfield watched from the penalty box as one of the players he patterned his game after, Malkin, converted. He dropped from above the left circle to the faceoff dot for a shot that squeaked between Forsberg’s left pad and glove.
The Kings have allowed eight man-advantage goals, the second-most in the NHL behind the Ottawa Senators.
“The PK has got to be better, that’s on me, especially,” Moore said.
A routine dump-in turned into a catastrophe for the Kings when Dewar stuffed the puck under Forsberg’s pad for a tying goal that the netminder surely lamented.
“They came out really fast and got those two early,” Dewar said. “We stayed with it, kind of weathered their storm and got our game going in the second period.”
The Kings fired out of the gate, scoring 4:24 and 9:04 after the opening faceoff.
First, Foegele initiated a successful sequence by being first in on the forecheck and winning the puck back. Two passes and three shot attempts later, Foegele scored from his knees and then sprung to his feet to celebrate a 1-0 lead.
Then, Joel Armia’s two-way game was on display as he stole the puck, zoomed ahead and hit Byfield with a cross-ice pass that opened up the back post for a tap-in from Fiala.
“It was a really nice goal. The key part of that goal was Armia,” Hiller said.
The thus-far underachieving Kings will next welcome a team that is more than meeting its lofty expectations when the undefeated Carolina Hurricanes blow through town Saturday at 6 p.m.