LA Kings lose to the 2 time defending Tampa Bay Lightning- Jan. 2022

The LA Kings to go on the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay lightning at the new crypto.com Arena it was a close battle for two periods.  Cal Peterson started in goal for the kings and had his hands full. This is a back to back after losing to San Jose the day before and they also are playing without All Star forward Adrian Kempe who is in Covid protocol. I’ll start defenseman Victor Hedman of Tampa Bay should why he’s one of the best in the league. He started off the scoring in the first period with a nice wrist shot It was one nothing after the first.

The second period was back-and-forth with the Kings actually taking a lead on goals by Blake Lizotte and Alex Iafallo’s shorthanded goal. However on the same power-play lightning striker Nikita Kucherov remained on a scoring tear tying the score before Lighting winger Bellemare put them up 3-2 on their own short handed goal. The Kings tied it at 3-3 on a goal by Arthur Kalliyev.

The Lightning scored three straight goals in the third period to blow it open with Victor Hedman getting a second and Captain Steven Stamkos netting the last one on an empty net goal before the Kings Danault scored late in the game to make the final 6-4.  Tampa Bay goalie Andrei Vasilevskiystop 32 shots for the visitors 10 straight victory over LA. It was an exciting game & LA looks to get back on track on the next upcoming road trip before the Winter Olympics.  More at www.nhl.com/kings