The LA Kings ended the preseason with a 6-2 victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday afternoon at Crypto.com Arena.
The Ducks opened the scoring just over seven minutes into the game. Anaheim forced a turnover in the corner, behind the Kings net, to win possession back deep in the Los Angeles zone. Forward Nikita Nesterenko shook Kings blueliner Cody Ceci in front and buried a pass from forward Tim Washe for the goal, putting the visitors ahead with an early 1-0 advantage.
The Kings equalized just 98 seconds later, however, through forward Scott Laughton. Ceci collected the puck at the right point and walked the blueline towards the center of the ice, before firing a shot towards the Anaheim net. Forward Erik Haula got a deflection along the way, sending the shot off the back wall, before Laughton buried the rebound off the bounce to make it a 1-1 game.
Anaheim pulled back ahead with a power-play goal midway through the first period, taking a 2-1 lead. After the Kings turned the puck over along the boards in their own end, the Ducks used a sequence of quick passes, ending with forward Leo Carlsson finding forward Beckett Sennecke at the back post for the goal, his fourth of the exhibition season.
Inside the final minute of the opening period, the Kings tied the game at two as the top line went to work. After forward Adrian Kempe gained the offensive zone with control off the rush, the Kings established possession. Defensemen Brian Dumoulin took a pass from his partner, Drew Doughty, and worked the puck to Kempe in the slot, where he buried his first goal of the preseason to tie the game at two apiece through 20 minutes.
The hosts took their first lead of the game midway through the second period, with a tic-tac-toe passing sequence on the power play. Forward Quinton Byfield started things off as he jumped at the blueline to hold the zone. He worked it down low to forward Artemi Panarin, who executed a give-and-go with Kempe before he fed forward Mats Zuccarello for the goal and a 3-2 Kings lead.
Kings forward Alex Turcotte scored a pair of goals in the third period to push the hosts ahead 5-2.
First, Dumoulin worked the puck to Zuccarello, who then found Doughty with space at the right point. Doughty unloaded his shot, with Turcotte getting a deflection along the way, past Ducks goaltender Lukas Dostal and in for the 4-2 lead. Turcotte then forced a turnover in the neutral zone before he capitalized off the rush, as he buried a feed from Zuccarello with a top-shelf finish, as the Kings took a 5-2 lead.
The power play converted again late in the third period as the second unit got in on the scoring. Doughty fed Turcotte for a one-timer, which went wide of the net, but a hard kick off the endboards found forward Erik Haula for a tap-in goal at the back post, giving both Turcotte and Doughty three points in the game.
Hear from Turcotte, Kempe and Head Coach Peter Laviolette after today’s victory.
