The Kings surrendered just their fourth home loss of the season and their first loss of the year when leading after two periods on Saturday evening. Falling 3-1 to the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Kings remain at 89 points in the standings, two points ahead of the Edmonton Oilers for second place in the Pacific Division standings.
The Kings and Maple Leafs opened the game with a fast paced but scoreless first period. Trading chances back and forth, both Darcy Kuemper and Anthony Stolarz stood tall to the task stopping a combined 23 shots in the opening period (13-10 SOG in favor of the Kings). A fight between Jeff Malott and Brandon Carlo brought even more energy to the building and a Kings power play also took place, but still no offense.
The Kings took the lead early in the second period and it was a well deserved overdue goal from Alex Laferriere. Burying his 16th goal of the season and first in his last 18 games, Laferriere made a strong move as he drove the net from a sharp angle, went forehand to backhand and beat Stolarz 1:57 into the middle stanza. Each team went unsuccessful on their second period power play opportunity and the Kings took a 1-0 lead into the final 20 minutes of regulation.
The Kings opened the third period with a golden opportunity to add to their lead, but the game quickly went south on the home team. After drawing a penalty 24 seconds into the period, the Kings went onto the man advantage, but it did not go the way they had hoped. Merely seconds into the Kings power play, Auston Matthews had a breakaway. Kuemper denied Matthews to make the original save, but seconds later, Matthews had another opportunity from a dangerous area and beat Kemper with a shot to tie the game less than a minute into the period. Controversially, the Kings challenged the play with the argument that the Maple Leafs played the puck illegally with an uncalled high stick. The challenge went unsuccessful and the Kings were assessed a delay of game minor. Now tied up at 1-1, the Kings committed another penalty and went down 4-on-3. Coming through with the kill, the Kings averted the collapse and kept the game tied. Still tied midway into the final period, coincidental minors were called on William Nylander and Vladislav Gavrikov for cross-checking to make it 4-on-4. Then, 30 seconds into the session, another Kings tripping penalty was called, this one by Kuemper, who took down Matthews as he circled the net. With just 10 seconds to go in the 4-on-3, John Tavares banged in a rebound off of a Matthews shot and gave the Maple Leafs a 2-1 lead. Tavares added an empty net goal in the final minutes and four Kings third period penalties ultimately led to the demise of their 15-game streak of not losing at home.
Kuemper stopped 33 of 35 shots on the night.
