Andreas Athanasiou scores in OT to complete thrilling Kings comeback
BOSTON — Getting routed at home to Boston stuck with the Kings, and they knew they’d have a chance to quickly make amends a week later.
“We got embarrassed at home,” Kings goalie Cal Petersen said on Monday night after the Kings rallied to beat the Bruins 3-2 in overtime. “Yeah, we were looking for some revenge.”
The Kings came back from a 2-1 deficit, with Trevor Moore tying the game with 26 seconds left in regulation and winning it on a breakaway by Andreas Athanasiou in overtime.
Petersen stopped 30 shots and Blake Lizotte also scored for the Kings, who have won eight of their last 10 games. One of the losses was a 7-0 Boston blowout on Feb. 28.
”That’s a phenomenal hockey team — one of the best in the league. We think that we should be right there, and for us to to put in an effort like that [last week], where we got blown out, it wasn’t acceptable,“ Petersen said.
Andreas Athanasiou scored twice, Cal Petersen stopped 19 shots and the L.A. Kings defeated the Buffalo Sabres 3-0 on Sunday.
“We came in with something to prove, and to show that we can play with the big boys,“ he added. “We want to be one of those top teams at the end of the year.”
Boston never trailed in regulation, taking a 2-1 lead into the third period thanks to a goal and an assist from Craig Smith. But with Petersen pulled in the final minute, the Kings won a faceoff in the offensive zone and Moore slid home a rebound to tie it.
“We found a way to get two in the last few minutes of the game,“ said Kings coach Todd McLellan, who returned to the bench from the COVID-19 protocol. “Used every minute we had, which was important.“
The game was scoreless until the puck bounced over Kings forward Phillip Danault’s stick in the defensive zone and Smith picked it up, skated in and shot.
The rebound came out to Charlie Coyle, who quickly pushed it over to Trent Frederic.
The Kings tied it just 69 seconds later when Olli Matta fed Lizotte in the slot to make it 1-1.
It stayed that way until just under a minute in the second, when Coyle worked the puck against the boards and centered it to Smith for the goal.
Go beyond the scoreboard
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