2 quick takeaways from Senators' 5-2 loss against Kings in LA

After losing five consecutive games, the Ottawa Senators had a new sense of confidence with winning their past two games. The Senators' 4-3 win to start of their three-game California road trip on Wednesday night against the San Jose Sharks was desperately needed.

As the Senators headed from the Bay to Southern California, they faced another tough test playing the Los Angeles Kings. The Senators won against the Kings 8-7 in overtime in Ottawa on Oct. 14, but the Senators were unable to replicate their offense against the Kings from the first meeting.

The Kings defeated the Senators 5-2 at Crypto.com Arena to drop the Senators to 10-12-1 on the season. The Senators would have their two-game winning streak snapped.

The Senators were unable to sweep the season series against the Kings for the first time since the 2018-19 season. After a stalemate through the first two periods, the final 20 minutes were simply not there for the Senators.

2. When you're hot, you're hot

When the Senators lost their fifth consecutive game 4-3 last week against the Vancouver Canucks, Travis Green decided to make line changes to try something new. One change was move Adam Gaudette up to the top line to play with Brady Tkachuk and Tim Stutzle.

Since the line change, all three players have been hot. Against the Kings, Gaudette scored a goal for the third consecutive game and now has four goals in the past three games.

Gaudette's goal was his 12th of the season to tie a career-high for a single season. Gaudette also now leads the Senators in goals for the season. For a player that is on a one-year, $775,000 contract, it's been more than an impressive start to the season for Gaudette.

Along with Gaudette, Stutzle continued his impressive season with scoring his 10th goal of the season. Stutzle's goal came late in the first period to tie the game at one for his fifth point in the past three games. Just like Stutzle, Tkachuk also has five points since the line change as he recorded his 15th assist of the season on Stutzle's goal.

1. Simply an awful third period

After two periods of play, the Senators and Kings were tied at two. Both teams were having a good and competitive back-and-forth game with Anton Forsberg and David Rittich making good saves.

The Kings jumped out to a fast start in the third period when Adrian Kempe hit iron. Shortly after Kempe hit iron, Anze Kopitar showed off his baseball skills and batted a puck past Forsberg to put the Kings up 3-2 just 1:37 into the third period.

The Senators' offense was able to generate chances against Rittich, but Rittch stood tall and stopped all seven shots on goal by the Senators.

With 4:44 remaining in the third period, the Senators were called for a too many men on the ice penalty. Kempe would score on the powerplay to put the Kings up 4-2. Trevor Moore added an empty netter to put the finishing touch on the game.

Three goals allowed in the third period was simply not enough for the Senators to go with their offense to get back into the game. Forsberg would finish the game making 22 saves in the loss.

The Senators will conclude their three-game California road trip tomorrow night to conclude a back-to-back when they take on the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center. Puck drop is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET.