Knights' road woes continue in blowout loss to Kings

The Golden Knights went to Los Angeles in search of their first road win of the young season.

They are going to have to continue their search elsewhere.

A four-game winning streak came crashing to a screeching halt in a 6-3 loss to the Kings at Crypto.com Arena on Wednesday night as the Knights (7-3-1) left their offense at home until a late flurry.

Their defense wasn’t much better, as the Kings were able to score in bunches.

Warren Foegele got the Kings (6-3-2) on the board late in the first period, and Adrian Kempe tacked on to the lead 42 seconds later. Alex Laferriere then scored midway through the second period, and Anze Kopitar followed it up with another goal 44 seconds later to open a 4-0 lead.

The Knights have now been outscored 18-11 in road games this season while holding a 39-16 edge at home.

By the time Tanner Pearson, who was drafted by the Kings and won a Stanley Cup with the organization, got the Knights on the board late in the second period, the game had started to get out of hand.

Pearson worked his way to the front of the net and scored when William Karlsson won a battle for the puck and worked it to Alexander Holtz, who found Pearson all alone for the finish to cut the deficit to 4-1.

It was his third goal of the season and first against the Kings as a member of the Knights.

“The names and faces have changed, but a lot of good memories here for sure,” Pearson said before the game against the team that drafted him in 2012.

Pavel Dorofeyev scored on the two-man advantage midway through the third period and added a second goal in the waning minutes.

The Kings looked like a much different team even than the one that was crushed 6-1 by the Knights at T-Mobile Arena just a week earlier.

They got a bit of help from the visitors early on.

Quinton Byfield sent a stretch pass up the ice in a scoreless game late in the first period that Ilya Samsonov tried to play off to the side of the goal, but his clearance ended up on the stick of a streaking Foegele, and he spun it right by Samsonov.

Moments later, Kempe controlled the puck in the neutral zone and made a move past several defenders before firing it past Samsonov.

Their two second-period goals also came within a minute of each other.

First, Laferriere was given space to walk in on a shot on goal and beat Samsonov with a blast.

Then defenseman Brandt Clarke pulled off a filthy spin move against the wall and looked up to see Kopitar all by himself on the far post for an easy tap-in goal.

Kevin Fiala added a power-play goal early in the third for the Kings, and Joel Edmundson scored 1:40 later.

It was too much for even the league’s highest-scoring team to overcome, as the Knights had a streak of four straight games with at least five goals snapped.

One of those games had come against the Kings, and there may have still been some residual effect.

Andreas Englund laid a big hit on Keegan Kolesar early in the game, triggering a fight between them.

Late in the second period, Mikey Anderson hit Tomas Hertl up high and sent Hertl staggering around the ice.

Hertl went to the locker room, but was able to return to the game in the third period.

Kopitar had two assists to finish with three points, and Clarke had three assists in the game as the Kings needed just 26 shots to get their six goals.

They had some frustrations early when the game was still scoreless.

Brett Howden hit the post and then got the puck back in front of the net, but was denied by Darcy Kuemper. Ivan Barbashev also had a great look at a backhand from the side of the net that Kuemper made a diving stop on in the closing seconds of the first period.

The Knights are off until Saturday when they host Utah at 7 p.m.