Adrian Kempe Scores Franchise's First Hat Trick Against Anaheim Ducks

Last night, the Kings fell to the Anaheim Ducks 5-4 in overtime after an action-packed 60 minutes of hockey at Honda Center. One bright spot was Adrian Kempe, who recorded his second career hat trick (Oct. 18, 2017 vs. Montreal).

Just five games ago, Head Coach Todd McLellan had challenged Kempe to be more of an offensive presence and contributor on the scoresheet.
Kempe has since scored goals in three of the past five games, bringing him to nine goals and eight assists this season.
"Yeah, I've been able to put the puck in the net more since then," Kempe said. "Before that, I was just excited to play and had been happy with my play but wasn't scoring. I still had my chances. Lately, I've been trying to be around the net more and [scored one] in front of the net tonight."

The change in results on the forecheck came after Kempe shifted his focus to become more of a front-net presence to create more turnovers.
"Before, we'd sit around and wait for them," Kempe said. "We want get on the forecheck and create turnovers and I got away from that. It's been a focus of mine lately: create turnovers and take it to the net."
The Kings also converted on the power play for the fifth-straight game, going 2-for-4 on the night. They are 7-for-19 over that stretch and 23-for-87 this season.
"This year I've been working on my one-timer and getting it off as quick as possible. I'm just trying to get it on the net because [Alex Iafallo and Dustin Brown] are unbelievable on the rebounds and can score a lot of goals off of my shots," he said.
See all three goals, plus the rest of the game recap below:

Watch the Kings
as they return to Anaheim for game two of the series on Wednesday, March 10 at 7:30 pm.