FINAL – Kings 3, Senators 2 – Kempe, Gavrikov, McLellan

The LA Kings skated to their fifth consecutive victory on the road to begin the season, a 3-2 win over the Ottawa Senators on Thursday evening at Canadian Tire Centre.

The Kings opened the scoring with a power-play goal just over three minutes into the game, taking a 1-0 lead away from home. Operating from the left-hand circle, the Kings executed two quick passes in a tight space, from Quinton Byfield to Trevor Moore to Phillip Danault, with Danault eventually putting his own rebound past sprawled Ottawa goaltender Joonas Korpisalo for his second goal in as many games and an early advantage.

With two goals in a span of less than four minutes, the Kings opened up a three-goal advantage before the halfway point of the second period.

First, forward Carl Grundstrom executed a give-and-go with forward Adrian Kempe through the neutral zone, with Kempe driving the center lane off the rush and Grundstrom eventually burying the eventual return feed from the right-hand circle, past Korpisalo, for a 2-0 advantage. Forward Anze Kopitar extended the lead to three goals just shy of nine minutes into the middle stanza, as he put home an Andreas Englund rebound from just outside the crease for his fifth goal of the season.

Ottawa got on the board late in the second period to pull to within 3-1 heading into the break. With the Senators on the power play, forward Dominik Kubalik scored a one-timer goal, from the inside of the left-hand faceoff circle, to bring the hosts back to within two goals. Forward Claude Giroux collected his eighth assist of the season on the play.

Early in the third period, the Senators pulled a goal back through forward Josh Norris, cutting their deficit to a single goal. After a shot from the point deflected and hit Kopitar on the side of the face, the hosts kept the play alive and Norris eventually scored on a redirection, bringing the score to 3-2.

The Kings held on down the stretch to secure the 3-2 victory.

Hear from Kempe, defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov and Head Coach Todd McLellan following tonight’s game.

Adrian Kempe
On his thoughts on tonight’s win over Ottawa and winning a one-goal game
Yeah, I think it was a good game from our side tonight. Obviously, they came back at the end and it was tighter than we wanted it to be, but I think we’ve had some games this year where it’s been a one-goal game at the end of the period and we’ve been doing a good job with that. Every line out there is managing the puck well and all that kind of stuff and I think we didn’t give up much at the end of the game. I think that’s a good sign.

On if he felt the team created more chances than they were rewarded with in goals
Yeah, I think so, but on the other side of the puck, I think we played well defensively. It came down to a close game, so obviously it was a little tighter than we wanted it to be, a little tighter than maybe we deserved, but overall we got the two points, which is the most important thing. Everyone played well and Talbs played a hell of a game again.

On the Kings continued success on the road this season
I feel like we’ve always been a good road team, ever since I came into the league, and obviously we have a little bit more of a swagger to win some games, get some points on the road, which is a good thing. It’s just confidence, for sure, we feel like we’re a pretty good road team and we can go into any building and get points. It’s just that confidence with playing well.

Vladislav Gavrikov
On the Kings being comfortable playing in uncomfortable situations
Well, we’re getting comfortable with our system and how we play. Especially how we play defensively in a game, I think we’re getting better with that every night.

On his goal-saving deflection in the first period to keep the Kings ahead
I don’t know, I just tried to block it. Talbs saved us a couple of days ago in the same situation and Talbs made a great save for us. So, now I helped out and our PK is getting better as well and that’s got to be key for us, the special teams.

On being able to close things out, as a group, in the third period
We played good. I think our second period, that was the best of the night, so just gotta stick it out. Sometimes it’s happens and we’ve just got to stick together and keep it going.

Todd McLellan

Coach McLellan talks about the complete team effort for the win🎤 pic.twitter.com/pHdZaUB7Rq

— Bally Sports West (@BallySportWest) November 3, 2023

Notes –
– Phillip Danault (1-0=1) scored his third goal of the season, marking the Kings’ 40th goal of the season scored.
– Anze Kopitar (1-0=1) tallied his fifth goal of the season to tie Trevor Moore for the team-lead this season. Kopitar’s goal was the 398th of his career, moving two shy of becoming the fourth skater in team history to score 400 goals. Kopitar (398-754=1,151) now sits three points shy of Luc Robitaille (557-597=1,154) for second-most points in franchise history.
– Carl Grundstrom (1-0=1) notched his fourth goal of the season for his third tally in his last four games against the Senators.
– Adrian Kempe (0-2=2) recorded two assists to extend his active point streak to five games (2-6=8). It is Kempe’s team-leading fourth multi-point performance of the season and third in his last five games.
– Trevor Moore (0-1=1) tallied his fourth assist of the season on the King’s first period power-play goal. Moore has now recorded power-play assists in back-to-back games against the Senators.
– Andreas Englund (0-1=1) collected his third assist of the season. It is the second time in Englund’s career he has recorded points in back-to-back games (0-2=2; Jan. 5-14, 2023 with COL).
– Quinton Byfield (0-1=1) and Trevor Moore (0-1=1) both recorded assists.
– Cam Talbot turned aside 24 of 26 shots to improve his record to 5-2-1 on the year.
– With three goals tonight, the Kings have recorded 42 goals through their first 10 games of a season for the seventh time in franchise history and first since 1993-94 (47G).
– The Kings won their fifth road game of the year, improving their road record to 5-0-0. They are the 24th different team in league history to win each of their first five road games of a season.

The Kings are scheduled to practice tomorrow in Philadelphia at 12 PM local time, 9 AM Pacific.

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