PRESEASON FINAL – Kings 4, Ducks 1 – Dubois, Grundstrom, McLellan

The LA Kings improved to 5-1-1 in the preseason as they skated to a 4-1 victory over the Anaheim Ducks during their first game of the exhibition season at Crypto.com Arena.

The Kings jumped out of the gates early, as Kevin Fiala and Pierre-Luc Dubois connected on the game’s first goal. Dubois fed Fiala down the left wing and the Swiss winger used speed around the outside, rounded the net and wrapped the puck inside the far post for the game-opening goal, his first of the preseason. Forward Arthur Kaliyev also collected an assist on the play, making it a full-line goal.

With two goals in 25 seconds, the Kings opened up a 3-0 lead in short order.

First, the hosts buried a power-play goal, off a tic-tac-toe passing play. Defenseman Drew Doughty held the puck in the offensive zone at the right point and fed forward Viktor Arvidsson in the far corner. Arvidsson went through the low slot to forward Adrian Kempe, who buried a one-timer for a 2-0 advantage. Forward Carl Grundstrom made it 3-0 less than 30 seconds later, as he got on the end of a loose rebound, off a shot from defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov, to make it 3-0 after 20 minutes.

Anaheim got on the board midway through the second period through forward Brett Leason, to pull within a pair of goals at the second intermission. Off the rush, forward Zack Kassian had his shot kicked aside by Kings goaltender Cam Talbot, but the rebound went directly into the path of a charging Leason, who saw the puck deflect off his skate and in for the first of the evening for the visitors.

The hosts restored the three-goal advantage midway through the third period, as the fourth line cashed in for their second goal of the game. Grundstrom’s shot from the slot hit Anaheim netminder John Gibson on the shoulder and the rebound deflected off a defenseman, into the air and into the crease, where Kings center Blake Lizotte put it home for his first goal of the preseason.

Hear from Dubois, Grundstrom and Head Coach Todd McLellan following tonight’s game.

Carl Grundstrom

Pierre-Luc Dubois
On feeling more comfortable with his line tonight
Yeah, and I think being back across the globe [helped too]. Practicing all week, coming back, you’re getting your legs really and I know we played two games in Australia, but it really felt like our first real preseason game together and it was fun out there.

On Fiala’s goal and how he saw that play develop
He’s a fast player and we’re still getting used to each other. Sometimes as a center, you’ve got to hold onto the puck in the middle and wait for the play to develop. I saw him speed down the left wing and I just got it in his hands. After that, he finished it off. Pretty nice goal.

On Fiala’s creativity and how he and other top players have that in their game
The top players, they make something happen when there seems to be nothing there. Kevin can beat guys 1-on-1 and even sometimes 1-on-2. Kevin, I knew he was a skilled player, obviously playing against him, but being with him every day and you see him in practice, in the games, he sees a lot out there. It’s really fun to be able to play with a guy like that and he’s a great guy off the ice too. I’ve been having a great time with him.

On continuing to learn and get used to the Kings system
I’m getting used to it more and more. Every day, every time we do video, at practice, we work on our systems a lot, so it’s getting there. I’m not at my best when I’m thinking too much out there, and I’m getting used to this new system, new linemates, new everything, it’s going to be huge in these preseason games coming up. We want to start the season playing well and the staff and the players have taught me a lot. It’s communicating well and explaining it to me, showing me on video, I’m getting there.

Todd McLellan
On the start tonight and if the group looked champing at the bit to play in a game again
Yeah, they were. That’s the benefit and the negative side of the trip to Australia, we didn’t play guys right away, didn’t have to, chose not to, but as a result, they were anxious to play. They wanted to get back out there real quick. The other default mechanism because of the trip was the type of lineups we’ve put in the last couple of games versus this one, which is pretty close to our team. There’s a little bit of an imbalance there, but Anaheim played real hard and made it made it hard on us.

On seeing a more connected line between Dubois, Fiala and Kaliyev
Yeah, I would say that. Kevin is Kevin, and he’s dynamic, but it takes a little bit to learn how to play with him. He’s explosive, he pulls pucks back, he looks for people in certain areas. I think that PL and Arthur are further along in understanding how that happens and the two of them are starting to mesh a little bit more [themselves]. Practice time has been important and I keep saying that Dubois is asking the right questions and he’s inquisitive, guys are helping him, so it was a good night for that line.

On his focus being on the play of individuals and the team, as opposed to the score
Yeah, it’s not the stats or the score, it’s combining the structure and the systems, the execution within them, with all of the other intangibles, the speed, the pace that we did it. We made mistakes tonight, we didn’t cover on a pinch and got scored on. There are some workable moments in the game now that we can use, in practice, to try and fix some things up. Special teams, I thought penalty kill did a good job, power play got us a goal and looked dangerous at the end, but a lot of passing and not a lot of substance, so we can fix that. There’s a needle that points us in the right direction now for practice tomorrow and we get another chance on Thursday.

On the first opportunity to see the penalty kill, after practicing it, against another team
It’s hard to practice special teams against each other, because one, you don’t want to shoot it and nobody wants to block a shot, and it changes the whole intensity, or the whole complexion of, either side of the puck, PP or PK. It’s good to be playing in these games and seeing situations that arise and how we handle them. We did a pretty good job.

On holding another practice shootout after the game
The goalies need it a little bit. A week from tomorrow, we’re going to be in a shootout, potentially. If the goalies don’t see it or feel it, against the other team’s shooters……we can do it in practice, when there’s no pressure or stress, not that there’s a lot here, but it’s valuable for them.

The Kings are scheduled to practice tomorrow