Back-to-Back Shutouts: Kings Offense Stalls in Florida
01/31/2025
By Tim Haddock
The Los Angeles Kings struggled on their five-game road trip, getting shut out in back-to-back games against the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning while extending their losing streak to four games. Drew Doughty returned to the lineup after missing 47 games with a broken ankle, but his presence wasn’t enough to spark the offense, as the Kings haven’t scored more than two goals in a game since January 16. Despite the slump, head coach Jim Hiller remains confident in the team, emphasizing that this is the same group that has won many games and can work through their scoring struggles.
LOS ANGELES – Drew Doughty played his first game of the season against the Florida Panthers on Wednesday, but it didn’t help the Kings much on their five-game road trip.
The Kings lost to the Panther, 3-0. The next night, the Kings were shut out again, 3-0, to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Kings were shut out twice in Florida and lost the first four games of their road trip.
Doughty played 24 minutes in the game against the Panthers. He missed the first 47 games of the season recovering from a broken ankle he suffered in the preseason.
“It felt amazing honestly,” Doughty said after the game against the Panthers. “I got better as the game went on personally. Felt better and more comfortable and obviously by the third I felt completely like myself.”
Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovzky made 29 saves in the shutout. Doughty said the Panthers are a good team and a challenge to play against.
“I thought we did create some chances. Bobrovsky made some great saves,” Doughty said. “I thought we had some chances.”
In the game against the Lightning, the Kings were down 1-0 after the first period. The Lightning scored two more goals – one on an empty netter – in the third period.
The Kings had a goal disallowed in the second period. Quentin Byfield scored a goal that would have tied it 1-1, but after review, the referees determined he was offside and took the goal away.
“I didn’t like our second period,” Kings coach Jim Hiller said after the game against the Lightning. “I thought our second period, clearly we came off who we are, turned the puck over, something we haven’t done much of this year and gave them all kinds of chances.”
The last time the Kings scored a goal was against the Detroit Red Wings on Jan. 27, the second game of the road trip. Byfield scored in the first period to give the Kings a 2-0 lead. Kevin Fiala scored first for the Kings in the game against the Red Wings.
But the Red Wings scored five unanswered goals and won the game 5-2.
This came after losing to the Columbus Blue Jackets, 3-2 in overtime, in the first game of the road trip on Jan. 25.
The Kings have lost four games in a row. The last game they won was against the Panthers at home, 2-1, on Jan. 22.
The Kings haven’t scored more than two goals in a game since Jan. 16, when they beat the Vancouver Canucks, 5-1.
After the game against the Lightning, Hiller was asked if the team is looking to make a trade or add a different player. He said the team doesn’t need that.
“This is the same group of guys that played extremely well and won a lot of games,” Hiller said. “I don’t think it’s ever going to go in at a very high rate for us. But it’s going to go in more than it is. We’ll get ourselves through it.”
The Kings play the Carolina Hurricanes in the last game of their road trip before returning home for a game against the Montreal Canadiens.
The Kings are 26-17 with six overtime losses in 43 games and in third place in the Pacific Division.
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