Kings Continue to Slide, Lose 4-3 to Avalanche

The Los Angeles Kings needed a bounce back performance against the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday. And while the effort was better, the result didn't follow with the Kings losing 4-3. 

Unlike Thursday's game against the Vegas Golden Knights, the Kings came out strong in the first. 

They outshot the Avalanche 18-4 and out chanced them 11-7. The two teams did tie in high-danger chances with two a piece in the period. 

The Kings' best opportunity came shorthanded with Blake Lizotte and Rasmus Kupari breaking in on a 2-on-on.

Lizotte fed the puck across to Kupari who skied it up over the crossbar. 

The offense exploded in the second period.

Colorado opened the scoring with one of the weirdest goals of the season. After a poor turnover from Viktor Arvidsson, a point shot went off the glass, off the top of the net and off Pheonix Copley's back and in. 

An unlucky goal but one that only happens because of an unnecessary turnover.

The Avalanche then went up two a minute later. 

The Kings failed to get the puck deep and turned it over at the blue line. The puck was chipped up to Alex Newhook and after Sean Walker blew a tire, Newhook was in all alone.

Newhook pulled a nifty move to his backhand and slipped the puck between Copley's legs and in.

The Kings got back into the game a few minutes later though.

Adrian Kempe fought through a few stick checks and coming into the zone and after a small move to the middle, beat Alexander Georgiev with a quick snapshot.

The Kings then found themselves on a power play just past the midway point. Arvidsson got some retribution from his earlier mistake and tied the game.

His centering feed meant for Drew Doughty deflected off an Avalanche defender and in.

The Kings were all over the Avalanche with nine high-danger chances for and five against.

Kupari's finishing let him down again in the second. He had a golden opportunity after a move to the middle and couldn't bury after a solid chance in front at the beginning of the period.

The Avalanche restored their two goal lead early.

A point shot from Brad Hunt put them up by one just under two minutes in. And then Denis Malgin finished backdoor after Valeri Nichushkin stripped Phil Danault at the bottom of the circle.

Kempe got the Kings back into the game with his second of the night. Blowing a puck past Georgiev off the rush.

Despite a few late chances, the Kings couldn't tie the game at four and dropped a third game in a row.

The game ended with some fireworks too. Andrew Cogliano caught Kempe high with three seconds left which drew a crowd. Kempe and Mikko Rantanen then got into it twice before the refs got everything under control.

With that loss, the Seattle Kraken move within two points of the Kings for the third spot in the Pacific Division.

Just two weeks ago the Kings were in a battle for the Division title and now they're trying desperately to hold onto third place. 

This is the worst time to go cold and the Kings need more contributions from the rest of their lineup. A few players need to step up and that isn't happening right now.

The Kings are back in action Monday against the Vancouver Canucks.