April 05--A few more takeaways from the Kings' loss to Vancouver on Monday before they play their final regular-season road game Tuesday night at Calgary. Their loss to the Canucks was the Kings' fifth straight defeat on the road.
Giving up late goals
Again ...
It was becoming a trend even before the Kings gave up a goal late in the first period (13 seconds left) and again in the second period (33 seconds remaining) on Monday night.
A lull?
"No, we had veterans out on the ice that should be able to handle that situation," Kings Coach Darryl Sutter said. "If you look at the guys that were out there. The first was coverage by our D and our centerman and the second one in the last minute was basically we passed them the puck."
Toffoli meets 30
No surprise that Kings winger Tyler Toffoli wasn't basking in the glow of having hit the 30-goal mark for the first time in his young career.
The big moment was more -- in his words, a "whatever" moment -- because of the loss, and the blown leads.
He spoke about the team instead of the individual milestone.
"Little breakdowns and not scoring big goals," Toffoli said. "Myself, I had a breakaway, could have put them in a 2-0 hole early in the game and didn't capitalize.
"Scoring big goals isn't always scoring a goal with a minute left in the game to win. It's scoring two, three goals in the first period and putting them down and giving them a hard time to come back."
Three games left for a course correction
The Kings' goal is to secure first place in the division and home ice advantage in the playoffs. But their recent form -- six losses in their last eight games -- and the way they are losing games is concerning, heading into the postseason.
"Obviously, you want to finish first, definitely," Kings center Anze Kopitar said. "It's not necessarily about wins and losses either. You want to win as much as you can, too.
"You've got to know your game is where it needs to be, going into the playoffs. Right now, we're just short of that. We still have three games remaining to sharpen up and put it in place."
