LOS ANGELES — The Kings white-knuckled their way through regulation, taking the Calgary Flames to overtime, losing 2-1, at Crypto.com Arena on Saturday night.
Adrian Kempe scored a rare first-period goal for the Kings, who couldn’t muster another the rest of the way. Darcy Kuemper made 36 of 38 saves.
Blake Coleman tallied shorthanded and Morgan Frost won it in overtime. Local product Dustin Wolf came up with 20 of 21 stops.
The Kings extended their points streak to four games but lost for the eighth time in their past dozen games while Calgary won for the eighth time in its last 12.
The Kings appeared to score 33 seconds into overtime when Kempe found Anže Kopitar for a redirection goal off his skate, but the official review quickly determined that Kopitar kicked the puck home, disallowing the would-be winner.
Thirty-three seconds after that, it was the Flames celebrating instead. Frost, who was dangerous often Saturday, finished a three-on-one break by roofing the puck from in tight.
A 1-1 stalemate from the second intermission persisted after 60 minutes, sending the Kings beyond the allotted time for the 14th time in 31 games this season. A whopping 25 of those 31 games have been decided by one goal or a goal plus an empty-netter.
The second period was brutal for the Kings, as they were outshot, 17-3.
After giving up 10 unanswered shots to start the stanza, the Kings not only hit the net but drew a penalty. That, however, was the start of trouble for the hosts, who have gone 4-for-44 on the power play to sink like a stone to 32nd of 32 franchises.
Kevin Fiala overhandled the puck, dragging it across the top of the offensive zone while being hounded by a pair of penalty killers. Coleman pounced on his blind pass toward the blue line and hit the gas to score on a breakaway, tying the game at the 6:41 mark.
Kuemper kept the Kings in it with a cornucopia of stops, highlighted by his jaw-dropping kick save on Matt Coronato that was equal parts intelligence and athleticism. A snazzy passing sequence between Rasmus Andersson and Frost set up a seam for Coronato, who was all alone at the netfront. Kuemper’s perfect positioning and fast-switch kick of his left pad denied Coronato.
In the first period, the Kings were outshot but not outscored or outmuscled. Kempe cashed in 11:10 into the contest and big Samuel Helenius dropped the gloves with even bigger Adam Klapka early in the game.
Kempe’s 11th goal tied him with Fiala for the team lead. After Joel Edmundson skyhooked the puck out of the zone, Kempe touched it onto Alex Laferriere. From the left-wing wall, Kempe vanished behind the Calgary defense, reappearing in the right circle to receive a pass from Laferriere for a one-timer that had a smoke trail.
