Kings top Ducks in Desjardins' debut as coach

LOS ANGELES -- Willie Desjardins won his debut as coach of the Los Angeles Kings, a 4-1 victory against the Anaheim Ducks at Staples Center on Tuesday.

Ilya Kovalchuk extended his point streak to four games with a goal and two assists for the Kings (5-8-1) in their first game under Desjardins, who took over after John Stevens was fired on Sunday.
"It was good to get back," said Desjardins, who coached the Vancouver Canucks for three seasons from 2014-17. "You're sitting there and waiting in the room, and it's like the game is never going to start. But it was good to get back in. It's been a while since I have been on that bench."
WATCH: [All Ducks vs. Kings highlights]
Jack Campbell made 30 saves and got his first NHL assist for Los Angeles, which has won three of four following a seven-game regulation losing streak.
"I think everybody was excited and fired up," Campbell said. "I thought we came out and played a great first 20 [minutes], and that's what kind of got us going and we just kept going from there. It was an exciting start, but we've got to keep going."

John Gibson made 23 saves for the Ducks (6-7-3), who have lost eight of their past nine games (1-6-2).
The Kings took a 1-0 lead at 6:25 of the first period when Dustin Brown scored his third goal in four games this season. Brown, who missed the first 10 games because of a broken finger, batted in Kovalchuk's backhand pass with a chest-high swing of his stick.
Five of Kovalchuk's nine points (three goals, six assists) during his streak have come on the power play.
Los Angeles has scored a power-play goal in four consecutive games. After starting the season 3-for-34 with the man-advantage, the Kings are 5-for-14 during this streak.

"Just started working harder [because] the first games, we were just standing still there," Kovalchuk said. "Now we move the puck. We create those lanes, shoot the puck, get the rebounds and get the tips in, so that's how it works."
The Ducks have allowed the first goal in seven straight games.
"I didn't think we had the intensity that was required early in the hockey game," Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. "It took us kind of halfway through the game before we got ourselves awake, and it was frustrating for the first half. We just didn't start on time."
Kyle Clifford made it 2-0 at 12:22 on a backhand shot off a pass by defenseman Alec Martinez.

Kovalchuk's fifth goal of the season gave the Kings a 3-0 lead at 4:54 of the second period. Campbell was credited with an assist after he made a long outlet pass to forward Tyler Toffoli in the neutral zone to start the rush.
"I just saw them all changing," Campbell said. "I just thought it would be a smart play to throw it up, and Ty made a great play to chip it over to [Kovalchuk]. And the guy's a goal scorer. It's fun to watch."
Ryan Kesler pulled the Ducks within 3-1 at 13:21 by redirecting defenseman Marcus Pettersson's shot, but Toffoli scored an empty-net goal at 17:54 of the third period.
"We didn't maintain the game as well as we wanted, but the first period was a good start and we'll build on that," Desjardins said.

They said it

"We just got bullied out there. They played their game and they pushed us around and we really had no response." -- Ducks center Ryan Kesler

"That's the direction we want to head. We want to keep winning. We want to win on a consistent basis. We want to win every night. It's hard to win in this league and it's going to take everybody." -- Kings forward Kyle Clifford

Need to know

Martinez had two assists. … Ducks center Ryan Getzlaf returned after not playing against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday because of an upper-body injury. … Kings center Jeff Carter had an assist for the third straight game and has five points (two goals, three assists) over that span.

What's next

Ducks: Host the Calgary Flames on Wednesday (10:30 p.m. ET; PRIME, SNW, NHL.TV)
Kings: Host the Minnesota Wild on Thursday (10:30 p.m. ET, SN, FS-W, FS-N, FS-WI, NHL.TV)