Not wanting to incur a fourth straight loss — and still feeling the pain of giving away a game in Nashville the night before — the LA Kings blew into Chicago on Sunday highly motivated. And it paid off with a 2-1 victory over the Blackhawks.
Rookie Alex Turcotte made his season debut centering a fourth line alongside two players who were often a tandem in AHL Ontario, Rasmus Kupari and Sammy Fagemo. Turcotte, just 21 years old and playing in front of friends and family from the area, recorded 8:10 of ice time and had one shot on goal.
All of LA’s offense came from another former Reign forward, Jaret Anderson-Dolan. The Kings second round pick from 2017 opened the scoring midway through the first period, then added another goal — his fifth of the season — early in the middle stanza. They likely came as a huge relief for the young forward, as he had gone 14 games without a goal (last scoring in Dec. 17 vs. San Jose).
He wasn’t the only one to breathe a sigh of relief in the Windy City. Pheonix Copley had been pulled in each of his two previous starts. Not this time, though. He had a fairly easy first period, only facing three shots from Chicago. Overall, he stopped 17 of 19 shots and only a late third period goal spoiled what would have been a shutout.
Three stats from the game:
– The Kings continue to spread their offense around. With JAD’s two-goal performance, he became the 12th LA player with a multi-goal game this season. That’s tops in the NHL.
Jaret Anderson-Dolan is now the 12th Kings player with a multi-goal game this season, most players with such a game in the NHL (Next closest is the Sabres and Islanders with 10 players)@alex_faust @DooleyLAK
— Blake Warye (@bwaryeofblake) January 23, 2023
– By assisting on both of JAD’s goals, Kevin Fiala increased his point total to a team-high 49 points.
– Since his season debut with the Kings on Dec. 6, no goaltender has more wins in the league than Copley (13). He is also only the third goalie in NHL history to get pulled within the first minute of a game in his last start and rebound by giving up one (or fewer) goals in his next start.
Pheonix Copley is the 3rd goalie in NHL history to get pulled (for performance or injury) within the first minute of the game in his last start and in his next start allow 1 or fewer goals in a win@alex_faust @LAKings @RearAdBsBlog
— Blake Warye (@bwaryeofblake) January 23, 2023
Below are select highlights from Sunday night’s game:
Additional Post-Game Notes:
Postgame thoughts from McLellan following the W 🎙#GoKingsGo | @LAKings pic.twitter.com/crGTZ7sXHR
— Bally Sports West (@BallySportWest) January 23, 2023
Turcotte speaks on his Kings season debut tonight 🙌🔊#GoKingsGo | @LAKings | @CarrlynBathe pic.twitter.com/4z77UWNuP7
— Bally Sports West (@BallySportWest) January 23, 2023
Lead photo via NHL
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