Golden Knights at Kings
Only four teams in NHL history have rallied from a 3-0 deficit to win a best-of-seven series and one of them is the Los Angeles Kings, who came back from the dead against San Jose in 2014 en route to winning the Stanley Cup. The Kings find themselves in that situation again as they try to fight off elimination against the visiting Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday night.
After allowing three third-period goals to the expansion Golden Knights in Sunday's 3-2 defeat, Los Angeles is more concerned with sending the Western Conference first-round series back to Las Vegas than it is preoccupied with duplicating the comeback of four years ago. "We know it's possible. We've done it before, but I don't think we're looking that far ahead," Kings defenseman Drew Doughty said Monday. "Obviously, we got to win this series, but we're not looking at it in that sort of way. We just got to win one game right now. A series has so many momentum turns, and you never know what can happen if we win that next game." There were questions of whether the Golden Knights could deal with postseason pressure or thrive away from raucous T-Mobile Arena but they are on the verge of becoming the first team to advance to the next round. "They really came out really hard. We don't expect anything different," Vegas forward David Perron said. "They're a great team over there with a great goalie and some great players. We expect the exact same thing next game."
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Network, CBC, TVAS, AT&T Sportsnet-Rocky Mountain (Las Vegas), Prime Ticket (Los Angeles)
ABOUT THE GOLDEN KNIGHTS: Tied at 1-1 late in the third period, Vegas scored twice in a 21-second span, getting the tiebreaking tally from James Neal and an insurance goal from William Karlsson, who led the team with 43 during the regular season. Neal has reached 20 goals in each of his 11 seasons and is a proven playoff performer with 14 tallies in 42 postseason games over the previous three seasons with Nashville. “You want to score big goals, for sure,” Neal said. “I think when you do the right things -- if you’re finishing your checks, you’re playing well defensively -- the goals will come. I’ve been in enough of those games that I feel like if you stick with it, you’ll get your chance.”
ABOUT THE KINGS: Los Angeles allowed the fewest goals in the league during the regular season but a lack of offense is proving to be its downfall -- the Kings have won one of eight playoff games since hoisting the Cup and are 1-6 in those decided by one goal. "I felt it was our best game of the series," coach John Stevens said at Monday's optional practice of his team's latest effort. "Got a lot more pressure on the puck. I still think there are some things we can do better offensively to create some more opportunity at the net." Captain Anze Kopitar scored a late goal and set up the opening tally in Game 3, but he is the only Los Angeles player with more than one point in the series.
OVERTIME
1. The Kings failed on all five power-play chances in Game 3 and are 1-for-13 in the series.
2. Golden Knights G Marc-Andre Fleury has turned aside 96 of 99 shots in the series.
3. Kings F Tyler Toffoli has 14 shots on net in the series but is mired in an eight-game goal drought, his second-longest of the season.