Kings get past Utah HC thanks to a pair of own-goals
LOS ANGELES –– The Kings got three goals from the blue line, including two own-goals by their opponents, in their 3-2 win over Utah HC at Crypto.com Arena on Saturday afternoon.
Two of those goals belonged to an unlikely owner. Defenseman Joel Edmundson not only had never produced a two-goal game, but had never scored twice in two games in his 10-year career. Defenseman Brandt Clarke also tallied while matching winger Adrian Kempe’s game-high of two assists. Darcy Kuemper (lower-body) returned for his first start since Oct. 14, earning a win and halting 23 shots.
Utah Captain Clayton Keller and 2022’s third overall pick Logan Cooley each scored a goal in support of Connor Ingram, who made 20 saves.
The Kings twice went up by two but Utah halved that deficit each time, setting up a white-knuckled finish.
Late in the game, Utah hemmed the Kings in their zone five-on-five but did less with the goalie pulled, conserving a one-goal edge for the Kings at the final horn.
With 10:13 to play, Utah defenseman Michael Kesselring whipped a sharp-angle bid on net that was deflected first by Cooley before going in off of Edmundson, making it a one-goal game.
He had put the Kings up two earlier in the frame. After his initial attempt off a faceoff win was blocked, Edmundson got the puck back for another shot attempt. His heave into traffic hit the leg of Kesselring before glancing off Ingram and into the net, the visitors’ second own-goal of the afternoon. A mere 69 seconds into the closing stanza, the Kings were back on top by two.
They had established a 2-0 lead in the second period but, as was the case a game earlier against San Jose, an untimely offensive-zone penalty by Kevin Fiala cut their edge to one goal and sent them into the dressing room up 2-1. This time, Fiala’s error left him stapled to the bench for the remainder of the contest.
Just 34 seconds after the Kings took a 2-0 lead, Fiala took his second offensive-zone penalty of the game to leave the Kings shorthanded. He was just exiting the box as Keller made the Kings pay a second after Fiala’s penalty expired. Keller and Mikhail Sergachev played pitch-and-catch high in the zone, culminating in Keller’s one-timer from the left circle becoming his fifth goal of the season.
The Kings had opened up a 2-0 lead off goals by defensemen, the first of the season for Brandt Clarke and the first as a King for Edmundson, at the 7:51 and 13:10 marks, respectively.
Edmundson, who signed as a free agent over the summer, crept down from the left point just as Anže Kopitar out-battled Robert Bortuzzo for a Kempe shot attempt that fell well short of the net. Kopitar found Edmundson at the opposite post for a tap-in goal.
Their first goal came with the man advantage. After letting 17 power-play opportunities fall by the wayside across seven different games, the Kings were smiled upon by the hockey gods 7:51 into the second period. Clarke flung a wrist shot toward the net that hit the stick of Sergachev squarely on the logo, creating a deflection that became an own-goal by Sergachev credited to Clarke.
The two sides were deadlocked at the first intermission after a period that featured two penalties aside, including Fiala’s first offensive-zone penalty, which negated a power play after just eight seconds. While the visitors had analytical advantage in most areas, the best chances of the period belonged to the Kings.