The LA Kings were once again able to collect a point, yet once again came up short beyond 60 minutes as they fell by a 3-2 final score in the shootout against the Anaheim Ducks on Friday evening at Crypto.com Arena.
Inside the game’s opening two minutes, the Kings got the scoring started as forward Quinton Byfield capitalized on a 3-on-1 rush. Skating in transition, Byfield led the play down the right wing, into the offensive zone. Byfield used a pair of teammates as a decoy, kept the puck himself and fired underneath the crossbar and in, past Anaheim netminder Lukas Dostal, for his ninth goal of the season and the early 1-0 advantage.
The Kings doubled their lead midway through the second period as forward Joel Armia found the back of the net in his first game back from injury. Forward Andre Lee was the facilitator, as he drove through the right-hand circle and distributed through the slot to Armia, who fired past Dostal first time for his 10th goal of the season and second point of the evening, after the lone assist on Byfield’s game-opening goal.
Anaheim pushed back, however, with two goals late in the second period to equalize the score through 40 minutes of play.
First, forward Ryan Strome beat Kings goaltender Darcy Kuemper with a one-timer from the left side, a bit of an awkward angle, for his third goal of the season, with the visitors pulling within 2-1. Inside the final four minutes of the second period, forward Tim Washe scored his first career NHL goal as he was first to react to a puck off the endboards, tying the game at two at the second intermission.
Neither team found the back of the net in the third period or overtime, which sent the game into a shootout. The teams traded goals in Rounds 1 and 2, with Brandt Clarke scoring for the Kings and Beckett Sennecke scoring for Anaheim, before forward Mason McTavish scored the game-deciding goal in the third round to give the visitors the extra point.
