FINAL – Kings 2, Hurricanes 4 – Fagemo, Durzi, McLellan

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• News post

• Zach Dooley

The LA Kings concluded a four-game homestand at 1-1-2 with a 4-2 defeat against the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday evening at Crypto.com Arena.

• Arthur Kaliyev
• Samuel Fagemo
• Sean Durzi

• Todd McLellan

# Sean Durzi

They came out, they worked hard and they got one on the power play there. I thought they played aggressively and they played to their game. That’s how it goes.

A few bounces here and there and it’s a different game, but obviously we have a lot better and that just comes to accountability. That’s something we’ll look at and we’ll be better for.

# Todd McLellan

They’re tough team to play against. They play at a high pace, both with and without the puck, which makes it hard in all three zones. I thought we were prepared for it, it took us a little while to figure it out, but when you fall behind with that type of pressure it’s tough to come back. We were hurt tonight by long plays, stuff leaving their end and getting skated. Again, we knew that was going to be part of their game but they still executed. When we had those opportunities, we didn’t quite finish on them, so as a result you end up with the result we got.

First of all, they defend real well and they limit opportunities, chances and shots on net. I thought the first period, we were slow and what I mean by that is we weren’t skating slow, but our decision to attack at the right time was slow. As we released a shot or a pass, there was always a stick on it and it would get deflected away, we’d be frustrated and away we go. As the game wore on, we got better in that area, but it was obviously too late.

Felt bad for [Samuel Fagemo] on the one that he had earlier when he hit the post, it was that close, but anytime a young player comes up and gets his first goal it’s exciting for not only him but for a lot of people in his world. His parents and friends and girlfriend and everybody that’s helped him get to the NHL, it’s kind of an “I’ve arrived” marker, that and that first lap when you play your first game. So, Sammy’s arrived, I thought he had a good, strong game tonight. Great to see our bench, we’re losing but they’re really excited for him, it’s a sign of a good, close team

Since then, obviously that night checking wasn’t even in the dictionary for both teams, it was that kind of game. None of us were happy, we threw that one out the window, we looked at it a bit but against [Arizona] we checked pretty well. Tonight, we had some good checking moments. The ones that got away on us ended up in the net and it wasn’t the goaltender’s issue, it was ours and they’re a pretty talented team, they don’t need many. The ones that got away on them, we came close but not close enough.

I think we did, yeah. I thought we got more pace through the middle, a little more speed and against this team, it’s a necessity. [Reporter: Is splitting up Kopitar and Kempe something that would be considered moving forward?] There’s potential, but it wasn’t separating, it was exactly what [reporter] asked, trying to get more speed through the middle than we had in the first few periods.

[Alex Edler] was, I’d like to say a healthy scratch, but Alex wasn’t going to play tonight, we were going to give him a little bit of a rest but from what I understand he wasn’t feeling real good either. Let’s not confuse that though, we were going to pull him out so that he could get rest. [Reporter: Is that the plan with Edler, a day off here and there?] We’re a third into the season and yeah, we originally planned at the beginning of the year to consider it in back-to-back game situations. Because of injuries, or his own injury, he’s had to sit out or play in situations where we didn’t anticipate it. He’s given us some really good games and he’s a big part of our team. We miss him when he’s not in the lineup.