The Kings closed out their pre 4 Nations Face-Off schedule on Saturday night playing in their third game in four days. Taking on their Freeway Face-Off rival the Anaheim Ducks, bout three on the year between the two teams went in favor of the visitors for the third straight game as the Ducks defeated the Kings for the first time this season 2-1 in a shootout. With the extra time loss, the Kings NHL-best home record now sits at 17-3-2.
Coming off of an emotional and physically draining shoutout win over the Dallas Stars last night, the Kings didn’t seem to have the same legs or attention to detail for the majority of the game according to head coach Jim Hiller. The low scoring game on Saturday saw just two regulation goals, one from each team. Neither goal coming until the third period, chances still presented themselves for both teams, but Lukas Dostal of the Ducks and David Rittich each stood tall to the task the whole night.
Breaking the scoreless tie 7:04 into the third period was the unsuspecting Brian Dumoulin, who netted his first goal of the season in game 54. Dumoulin beat Rittich with a wrist shot bar-down during a 6-on-5 man advantage as the Kings had yet to touch the puck following a delayed penalty. Still trailing late in regulation, the Kings needed a spark and moved Adrian Kempe back to defense to partner with Drew Doughty on the blue line to add another offensive weapon on the ice as they chased the game-tying goal. Minutes later, the moved paid off directly. With Kempe on defense, Phillip Danault entered the offensive zone and pulled up to look for a trailer entering the zone. Having to look no further than a trailing Kempe, the dual threat spit the gap in the slot, received a pass from Danault and beat Dostal through the arm with a backhand to tie the game with 2:39 left in the regulation.
The game would head to overtime and after an abbreviated 21 second Ducks power play went unsuccessful to end the 3-on-3 session, the game went to a shootout for a second consecutive night. Unfortunately, it was the polar opposite result from Friday’s 2-0 shootout win and after two rounds the Ducks had taken the extra point thanks to two impressive dekes from Trevor Zegras and Leo Carlsson, while a pair of attempts from Friday’s shootout hero’s Kempe and Kevin Fiala combined for three posts and no goals.
Kings: ❌ ❌
Ducks: ✅✅
With the late and unexpected scratch of Darcy Kuemper due to personal reasons, Rittich made the start for the second straight night and stopped 25 of 26 shots.
