To say the Los Angeles Kings beat the Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday is a vast understatement. They were outplayed, outsmarted, and outmaneuvered by a score of 6-5. Even though the home team had a valiant effort in the end, it wasn't meant to be.
It also wasn't a pretty sight as a fight happened courtesy of Nicolas Hague. There was also Zach Whitecloud's stick exploding, opening the scoring of the game (thanks, Anze Kopitar). It was the hockey equivalent of Murphy's Law: Anything bad that can happen will.
Not even taking on David Rittich in net was enough to get them a victory. Suddenly, you're wondering how you can defeat your Pacific Division rival. Have the Kings figured out the magic formula? Should Las Vegas start panicking?
That's especially true if the two teams face each other in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Aside from struggling to defeat their rivals, Los Angeles is 20-3-4 at Crypto.com Arena this season. They're playing like the "Showtime Lakers" in Hollywood, only on ice. If they steal a game at T-Mobile Arena like they did on Sunday, that could be a nightmare.
So... how do you defeat these pesky Southern California heathens? What can Bruce Cassidy do differently to ensure they have no problems with their annoying rival? Do they need more Tomas Hertl? Yes, hoping that the Edmonton Oilers, while unsanitary, sounds like a good option. After all, Los Angeles has lost to the Oilers in three straight postseasons. But there must be a significant change to the strategy. Here's how they can take care of their rivals from Hollywood.
How the Vegas Golden Knights can beat the Los Angeles Kings
Beating your Pacific Division rivals starts with not letting them have any room to breathe. In Sunday's game, the Kings had five high danger chances in the first period while the Golden Knights had one. They also outshot Vegas in the first period, 16-7. In short, the visiting team took the crowd out of the game and silenced the crowd.
That started with being the aggressor throughout the game. The Kings moved quicker throughout the night, keeping Vegas out of position. That led to numerous rebounds coming to Vegas, where they couldn't dump the puck out. The result? A frustrated home team and six goals. If that happens in the playoffs, it's game over.
Fans could tell Sunday was frustrating from their anguish and mental errors. A delay of game call on Victor Olofsson in the third period led to an Adrian Kempe power play goal 25 seconds later. It also came with an array of turnovers leading to the opposing team jumping on them. Of course, this has been a problem throughout the season, with the Golden Knights having the sixth-most giveaways entering Sunday (15.74 giveaways per game).
It all starts with maintaining the tempo throughout the game. The Kings aren't giving up many goals with Darcy Kuemper (2.33 GAA, .913 save percentage) being a brick wall. Instead, they're relying on their opponents to make mental errors. Be the aggressor in future matchups and keep your opponent on your toes. They did this on October 22 and they scored six goals.
The good news is that players like Tomas Hertl give the team plenty of hope in this regard. He had a hat trick, bumping his total up to 27 goals. That included a power play tally which tied him with Erik Haula (12 power play goals in 2017-18) for most in a season. If the rest of the team can get onboard, they can slay their demons and continue their quest for a second Stanley Cup.