Matt Roy makes big call but Kings can’t answer bell in 4-2 loss to Bruins

Matt Roy didn’t think twice about alarming his parents.

A late-night phone call will usually do that, but Roy had good reason to stir some excitement, first with his father, Rich, and then his mother, Julie, at 1 a.m. in the family’s home in Michigan. It was just after his game with the Ontario Reign, and Roy was summoned intothe office of coach Mike Stothers.

“He just kind of smiled at me and said ‘Congratulations,’� Roy said.

Roy soon grabbed his phone to deliver the news.

“I thought my mom would scream a little bit more, but I think she was kind of more shocked than anything,� Roy said. “It was just happiness from everyone and we’re all very grateful.�

Roy’s debut Saturday happened in a second straight debilitating loss for the Kings, 4-2 to the Boston Bruins in which the Kings tied it with less than five minutes remaining before Boston scored twice in the final 73 seconds.

Charlie McAvoy’s randomly bounced goal off Anze Kopitar’s skate was the game winner, and Patrice Bergeron delivered the final dagger to the Kings for the second time in a week.

It ended a day of injuries and goalie drama for the Kings.

Alec Martinez was ruled out for one to two weeks because of an upper-body injury and Sean Walker is day-to-day because of a facial injury that is not believed to involve a fracture.

Jonathan Quick became sick and was sent home by the medical staff at the start of the second period, according to a team official. That left Steve Jakiel as the Kings’ in-house emergency backup goalie to Jack Campbell, who dueled Boston’s Tuukka Rask for much of the game and could only watch the Kings come up empty on a power play with the score 2-2.

“With four minutes left, and having a power play in a tight game, we have to find a way to score,� Kopitar said. “It’s on the five of us that we’re out on the ice, and I take full responsibility for that. We didn’t get in the zone. It’s embarrassing.�

The Kings had their hands full with Boston in a preview of their lineup for the immediate future. Coach Willie Desjardins said Martinez was injured on the last play of the game Thursday and that it’s not related to his upper-body injury from two months ago.

His absence further bites into the Kings’ defense but also gives them opportunity to see prospects like Roy, a 23-year-old who earned the nod with a reliable season for the last-place Reign.

Desjardins partnered him with Dion Phaneuf, and his debut turned wonky when Roy took an interference penalty in the first period. Boston didn’t score but it exposed another defenseman, Paul LaDue, on its first goal when Jake DeBrusk sneaked behind him to put in Peter Cehlarik’s pass on a rush.

Ilya Kovalchuk got it back with a power-play goal in the second period. He knelt for a big fist pump, but that joy was tempered six minutes later with Brad Marchand’s goal off Bergeron’s faceoff win against Kopitar that Campbell never saw.

LaDue redeemed himself with a shot on goal off a cycle play by Adrian Kempe and Carl Hagelin, and Alex Iafallo put the rebound in an open net to tie it 2-2.

It was a heightened atmosphere for Roy, a seventh-round draft pick in 2015 from Michigan Tech, who grew up in Canton, Mich., outside of Detroit, and watched star-studded Red Wings teams.

To face Boston only added to the experience.

“An Original Six team, it’s kind of crazy, just coming into it,� Roy said. “But theD-men on this team, Dion, playing with him, it was great tonight and he kind of took me under his wing and helped me out.�

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Twitter: @curtiszupke