Kings’ home opener: Scoreless after first period against Atlanta

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With the opening-night festivities out of the way -- players entered Staples Center on a purple carpet and everyone on the rosters, coaching staff and training staff was introduced before the game -- the Kings settled down to play their first game here since April 25, when they lost Game 6 of their first-round playoff series against Vancouver.

The first period was scoreless, and the Thrashers had a 12-9 edge in shots. The Kings killed three disadvantages, again quickly changing forwards and often sending faceoff artist Jarret Stoll out just for the draw and pulling him back to the bench as soon as the action permitted.

The Kings did have one power play for 65 seconds but couldn’t capitalize. Drew Doughty created a great chance when he had the puck out near the blue line, faked a shot to draw a defender down, and then walked in to snap a shot from about 45 feet. Thrashers goaltender Chris Mason made a fine glove stab on the shot.

The Kings had a couple of other good chances. Wayne Simmonds hit the left post from about 25 feet at the 10-minute mark, and Brayden Schenn pounced on the rebound but couldn’t find the open left side of the net and instead sent the shot wide.

More later at www.latimes.com/sports

--Helene Elliott