Kings’ penalties prove costly in 5-2 loss to Golden Knights
Paul Stastny scored twice on the power play, Max Pacioretty added a power-play goal and the Vegas Golden Knights beat the Kings 5-2 on Sunday night.
Reilly Smith and Mark Stone also scored, and Marc-Andre Fleury made 36 saves as the Golden Knights swept their first set of back-to-back games.
Vegas was 3 for 3 on the power play after starting the season 3 for 17 with the man-advantage.
Jonathan Quick allowed five goals on 36 shots for the Kings. Quick has allowed 19 goals on 92 shots in his three appearances this season. He has allowed at least five goals in five of his last seven starts.
Stastny redirected Pacioretty’s pass between Quick’s legs to put the Golden Knights up 3-1 at 14:51 of the second period. He made it 4-1 with a one-timer on a feed from Jonathan Marchessault 2:09 later. It was Stastny’s second career game with two power-play goals, and he finished with four points.
The L.A. Kings have been outscored 11-4 in the third period in four games this season. They lost a lead against Nashville Predators before rallying Saturday.
Dustin Brown pulled the Kings within 4-2 at 4:24 of the third period, but Stone pushed the lead back to three goals by scoring 17 seconds later.
Vegas went in front 1-0 at 5:42 of the first period on Smith’s fourth goal of the season. Smith scored on a wrist shot from the left circle, with William Karlsson providing his sixth assist through five games.
Pacioretty scored on the power play at 6:59 to make it 2-0, scoring from the right dot after being given too much space by the Kings. But Los Angeles cut the deficit to 2-1 on Austin Wagner’s first goal of the season 50 seconds later.
Go beyond the scoreboard
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