Penguins routed by Kings, suffering 1st shutout loss of the season

The Pittsburgh Penguins’ road game Saturday against the Los Angeles Kings at Crypto.com Arena was falsely advertised by the NHL as having a start time of 10:30 p.m. on the eastern seaboard.

In all reality, it began at 11:08 p.m. because the Kings staged a lavish (and lengthy) pre-game celebration of recently retired forward Dustin Brown.

In addition to having his No 23 retired, the 243rd-leading scorer in league history was also immortalized with a bronze statue outside the venue.

It all led to a late night for the visitors.

In all reality, the game could have started at 11:08 a.m. and the Penguins still might not have shown up.

Allowing four goals to Kings forward Adrian Kempe, who tallied a natural hat trick in the process, the Penguins were shut out for the first time this season, 6-0, by the Kings and had a modest two-game winning streak snuffed out.

Curiously, Penguins coach Mike Sullivan opted to start Casey DeSmith on back-to-back days. That decision did not pan out as DeSmith was pulled after allowing three goals on only 15 shots in 21:58 of ice time.

The result dropped his record to 9-11-4.

One night prior, DeSmith led the Penguins to a 6-3 road win against the Anaheim Ducks by stopping 28 of 31 shots.

The choice to start DeSmith again instead of opening the contest with reserve Dustin Tokarski — who eventually replaced DeSmith in the second period — was based on intuition, Sullivan said.

“We think he’s played really well here,” Sullivan said to media in Los Angeles. “He’s given us a chance to win. He made some timely saves last night. My experience of coaching him is that when he plays well, he can run one game into the next.”

In all reality, the Penguins’ malfunctions on Saturday looked to be much larger than who manned the net as they were chasing the Kings and the puck for most of the contest.

The Kings claimed a lead 2:28 into regulation thanks to forward Jaret Anderson-Dolan’s seventh goal of the season.

Taking a pass at the left point of the offensive zone, Kings defenseman Alexander Edler lobbed a wrister toward the cage. Battling for position with Penguins defenseman Mark Friedman low in the left circle, Anderson-Dolan had the puck glance off the shaft of his stick, causing it to beat DeSmith’s blocker on the near side. Edler and forward Rasmus Kupari had assists.

It became a two-goal game late in first period at the 17:47 mark.

After DeSmith denied him on a one-timer from the Penguins’ left circle, Kupari wrangled his own rebound below the circle and fed a pass to the front of the crease where Kings forward Alex Iafallo swept a forehand shot that leaked through the goalie’s gear for his eighth goal. Kupari and forward Kevin Fiala had assists.

The Kings went up by a field goal 1:58 into the second period thanks to Kempe’s 23rd goal of 2022-23.

Controlling a puck in the high slot of the offensive zone, Kings defenseman Sean Durzi loaded up and fired a heavy wrister. Stationed above the blue paint, Kings forward Quinton Byfield deflected the puck on net but was denied by DeSmith. The ensuing rebound slid to the left of the crease, where Kings forward Anze Kopitar settled it with his left skate and fed a pass to the top of the circle for an onrushing Kempe, who lasered a far-side wrister that hit off the right post and rattled into the cage. Assists went to Kopitar and Byfield.

That score prompted Sullivan to pull DeSmith and swap in Tokarski.

The Kings were undeterred by that tactic as Kempe scored again at the 5:18 mark of the middle frame.

Lugging the puck up from his own zone, Kempe fed a cross-ice pass to Kopitar, who gained the offensive blue line on left wing. Allowing things to develop, Kopitar dished a pass back to Kempe above the right circle. Maneuvering into the circle, Kempe wired another wrister to the far side that toasted Tokarski’s blocker. Kopitar and defenseman Mikey Anderson netted assists.

Kempe recorded his third career hat trick at 14:27 of the second period with a power-play goal. Off a cycle in the Penguins’ right circle, Kopitar forced a cross-ice pass to the far side of the crease that was broken up by the right skate of Penguins defenseman Jeff Petry, who inadvertently deflected the puck to the right of the blue paint. From there Kempe cleaned up the rebound with a wrister over a scrambling Tokarski. Kopitar and Doughty had assists.

The Kings went up by a touchdown with another power-play goal at 15:09 of the third period when Kempe collected his fourth goal. Off a back-and-forth passing sequence with Fiala, Kempe swatted a one-timer from the Penguins’ right circle through Tokarski’s five hole. Assists went to Fiala and defenseman Drew Doughty.

Tokarski finished with 13 saves on 16 shots.

Goaltender Pheonix Copley stopped all 25 shots he faced to record his second career shutout.

Notes:

• Penguins forward Sidney Crosby totaled 20 minutes in penalties and all of them came at 9:46 of the third period.

First, he was assessed a 10-minute misconduct after he shoved Anderson in retaliation for a cross check. After referee Garrett Rank announced the initial penalty, Crosby harassed him in the Kings’ zone to the point that Rank dished out a game misconduct, the first such penalty of Crosby’s 18-year career.

• Penguins defenseman Kris Letang returned to the lineup after missing one game due to an undisclosed illness.

• Penguins forwards Danton Heinen and Drew O’Connor and defenseman Chad Ruhwedel were healthy scratches.

• The last player to score four goals in a game against the Penguins was Islanders forward Kyle Okposo. All four were on goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury in a 6-3 home win at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, N.Y. on Jan. 16, 2015.

• The Kings’ last hat trick against the Penguins was recorded by one-time Penguins forward Luc Robitaille, who scored three goals in the first period on goaltender Alain Chevrier in an 8-2 win at the Great Western Forum in Inglewood, Calif. on March 10, 1990.

• The Kings’ last shutout of the Penguins was a 1-0 win at PPG Paints Arena on Dec. 16, 2016. Goaltender Peter Budaj made 39 saves in the victory.

• Kings forward Viktor Arvidsson appeared in his 500th career game.