The LA Kings skated to their most convincing victory of the season, a 7-2 win over the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday evening at Crypto.com Arena.
The Kings got the scoring started inside the first 90 seconds of the game, as forwards Artemi Panarin and Adrian Kempe connected on a nice goal. Panarin gathered the puck along the wall, in his own zone, and sent a pass through the middle of the ice, hitting Kempe in stride entering the offensive zone. Kempe buried his shot, past San Jose netminder Yaroslav Askarov, on the blocker side, putting the hosts ahead 1-0.
Kempe doubled his tally later in the first period, as the Kings opened up a two-goal advantage. Defensemen Brandt Clarke and Erik Gustafsson worked the puck across the blueline, setting up Gustafsson into the left-hand circle. Gustafsson found the seam pass to Kempe on the other side of the ice and he buried the one-timer for his first multi-goal game of the season and a 2-0 lead for Los Angeles.
Late in the opening period, Los Angeles added a power-play goal to the total, bringing the score to 3-0 through 20 minutes of play. Skating on their second man advantage of the game, Panarin exercised patience along the left-hand boards. Forward Quinton Byfield got open in the slot and Panarin fed him with a short-area pass, with Byfield burying his third goal of the season for the three-goal lead.
San Jose got on the board with a power-play goal of its own just over five minutes into the second period, pulling back within 3-1. Forward Macklin Celebrini was the architect, as he delayed in between the circles to create space, before he changed the angle of attack and fired through traffic, past Los Angeles goaltender Darcy Kuemper and in for his sixth goal of the season.
The hosts answered back with a goal midway through the second period, however, to restore the three-goal advantage. Forward Kenny Connors, skating in his third career NHL game, made a nice play to corral an entry pass from defenseman Brian Dumoulin. Connors rounded the net and found forward Erik Haula in the slot, where the veteran forward deked to the backhand and buried his third goal of the season for a 4-1 lead.
Kempe completed the hat trick late in the second period, as he added a power-play goal to his tally for the evening. As the Kings operated in the offensive zone, forward Alex Laferriere took a feed from Panarin and went to work along the goal line. Laferriere found a low seam and fed Kempe at the back post, where he buried his third goal of the evening, putting the Kings ahead 5-1.
Early in the third period, the Kings added a sixth goal, eliminating any early doubt after seeing a 5-1 lead evaporate on Thursday. The line of Connors, Haula and forward Joel Armia again got in on the action, with Haula forechecking aggressively and winning the puck back down low. He worked the puck to Armia in front, where he buried his third goal of the season for a five-goal lead.
After the Sharks scored a power play goal, with forward Collin Graf recorded as the goalscorer, Byfield put the cherry on top with his second goal of the evening. With Los Angeles skating 5-on-5, Byfield worked his way to the front of the net and got a deflection on a point by by Panarin, sending it the other way, past Askarov and in, sealing a commanding 7-2 victory on home ice.
Hear from Kempe, Byfield and Head Coach Peter Laviolette after tonight’s game.
