WINNIPEG, Manitoba — One misdirection sent the Kings in the wrong direction.
Mark Scheifele broke a tie with 8:13 left with his second goal of the game and the Winnipeg Jets beat the Kings 3-2 in a Saturday matinee matchup.
Scheifele picked Josh Morrissey’s pass out of the air and deflected it past Kings goalie Darcy Kuemper to give Winnipeg the lead.
“They’re a good team, and the goalie was really good, it’s a simple story,” Kings coach Jim Hiller told reporters after the loss. “We had a chance, I would tell you, to block a couple shots that we didn’t. Look at the score sheet. I think they blocked 27; they were diving all over the place at the end, so the team that was maybe a little more desperate won.”
The Kings (1-2-0) claimed a 2-1 lead midway through the second period. Adrian Kempe finished a pretty three-way passing play with Anze Kopitar and Andrei Kuzmenko to score past Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck, who made 30 saves
Mikey Anderson tied it at 1 just 50 seconds into the second period, with assists by Kempe and Drew Doughty. His screened shot from the point got by Hellebuyck. Kuemper stopped 24 shots in the loss.
Former King Alex Iafallo opened the scoring with a power-play goal for the Jets in the first period to help the Jets rebound from a season-opening home loss to Dallas on Thursday night.
“They were ready to start, we weren’t. That was really clear,” Hiller said. “Their power play was good, scored the goal, but also gave them just the momentum and a lot of feel-good minutes there, where they were just missing.
“So they get into the game right away, but we gathered ourselves, that was clear. The last 40 minutes, despite the outcome, was probably the best we’ve played consecutive periods so far this year.”
Scheifele tied the it at 2 with 1:03 left in the second. In the tail end of killing a penalty, Morgan Barron stole the puck and fed Scheifele, whose backhander deflected off Anderson past Kuemper.
The Kings, playing their third game following a season-opening home loss to Colorado and a shootout victory at Vegas, play at Minnesota on Monday night.