Kings ride four-goal first period to win against Golden Knights

LAS VEGAS -- Jack Campbell made a season-high 44 saves, and the Los Angeles Kings scored four goals in the first period of a 5-2 win against the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena on Thursday.

Campbell is 2-1-0 with a goals-against-average of 1.33 against Vegas, with each start on the road. He's made at least 40 saves in each of those games, including 41 in his first NHL win on Feb. 27, 2018.
"You don't have to get amped. You're in Vegas. It's showtime," Campbell said. "It's pretty fun to play here and be in this city, and the fans they have and the team they have. You don't have to try to psyche yourself up. It's just such a fun place to play."
WATCH: [All Kings vs. Golden Knights highlights]
Anze Kopitar got his 600th NHL assist, and Adrian Kempe scored two goals for the Kings (18-24-4), who ended a three-game losing streak that included a 2-1 loss to the Dallas Stars on Wednesday.
Kopitar has played 1,049 games with the Kings.
"It's a nice accomplishment," the 32-year-old said. "It just means I'm getting old. That's about it."

Max Pacioretty scored his 20th goal of the season for the Golden Knights (24-17-6), who have lost two straight games after winning the previous four. Malcolm Subban made 18 saves in his first start since Dec. 27.
Vegas outshot Los Angeles 36-5 in the second and third periods.
"If they score four goals in the first period, they're going to sit back the rest of the game," Golden Knights forward Reilly Smith said. "They're on a tail end of a back-to-back and we're playing at home. We should never lose to the Kings in a situation like that. We deserved to lose tonight."
Alec Martinez scored his first of the season at 13:40 to give the Kings a 1-0 lead. Ben Hutton scored 1:21 later to make it 2-0.
Tyler Toffoli made it 3-0 at 18:44 when he scored off a pass from Kopitar, and Kempe scored with four seconds remaining to make it 4-0.
It was the fourth consecutive game the Golden Knights allowed the first goal, and the third straight game allowing at least two in the first period.
"Same old story, isn't it?" Vegas coach Gerard Gallant said. "No excuse that we can't be ready. We were down 4-0 in the game. The first period was awful. It's embarrassing."

The Golden Knights scored twice in 56 seconds in the second period. Smith scored unassisted at 14:38 to make it 4-1, and Pacioretty made it 4-2 at 15:34.
Kempe scored on the power play direct off a face-off in the left circle with nine seconds left in the third for the 5-2 final.
"We talk about momentum swings. We wanted to try and take some of the momentum away from them early and calm everything down," Kings coach Todd McLellan said. "We were successful with that, but we gave a lot of it back in the second and third. Good goaltending and poise down the stretch helped us pull it off."

They said it

"You can't say enough about our start. When we score first, it's amazing how well we can play. I know they made a big push in the second period, but we showed a lot of character coming back in the third. It's just a big win." -- Kings goalie Jack Campbell
"Quite frankly, I wasn't completely aware of his successes here. [Kings goalie Jonathan Quick] was going at home [Wednesday], Campbell was going here, and we didn't really look into the fact that his first win was here and he had good games. He, for some reason, plays well here, and to come out of this building with a win, you're probably saying your goaltender played well because that's a quality team over there." -- Kings coach Todd McLellan
"We're never going to quit, but at the same time, we can't look at these games and be proud about anything." -- Golden Knights forward Max Pacioretty

Need to know

Los Angeles is 7-4-1 against Vegas. ... Kings forward Alex Iafallo had an assist to extend his point streak to nine games (four goals, six assists). ... Los Angeles' five goals were one more than it scored during its three-game losing streak. ... Kopitar has 12 points (four goals, eight assists) in 12 games against Vegas. ... Pacioretty has nine points (five goals, four assists) in the past eight games.

What's next

Kings: At the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; FS-CR, FS-W, NHL.TV)
Golden Knights: Host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday (10 p.m. ET; ATTSN-RM, FS-O, NHL.TV)