FINAL – Kings 3, Ducks 2 (SO) – Kempe, Roy, Hiller

The LA Kings completed their homestand with a record of 2-1-0, following a 3-2 shootout victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday evening at Crypto.com Arena.

Anaheim opened the scoring with a power-play goal just shy of the halfway mark of the first period. Just nine seconds into the game’s first penalty, Ducks forward Jakob Silfverberg scored from the left-hand circle, as his shot snuck inside the far post, past Kings netminder David Rittich.

With fewer than five minutes remaining in the opening period, the Kings knotted the game at one with a power-play goal of their own. Forward Kevin Fiala collected the puck on the left side, moved into the left-hand circle and placed a pinpoint shot off the post and in on the glove side for his second power-play goal in as many games. Forward Adrian Kempe and defenseman Drew Doughty collected the assists on the play, extending Kempe’s point streak versus the Ducks to ten games.

The teams also traded goals on special teams during the second period, sending the game tied at the second intermission.

First, the Ducks capitalized while shorthanded, taking their second one-goal lead of the evening. After chipping the puck out of their own zone, Anaheim went 2-on-1 the other way, with forward Adam Henrique firing through the slot, off the stick of Kings defenseman Drew Doughty and into the net, putting the visitors ahead 2-1.

Later in the middle stanza, the Kings equalized with another power-play goal, this time through Doughty, to send the game into the second intermission tied at two goals apiece. Off a pair of nice passes between Fiala and Kempe, Doughty was teed up at the center point. He delayed and shot through traffic, past Anaheim netminder John Gibson and in for his 12th goal of the season and a 2-2 scoreline.

After neither team found the back of the net in either the third period or overtime, the Kings picked up the extra point in the standings via the shootout. Forwards Pierre-Luc Dubois and Trevor Moore scored, while Rittich made two saves to secure the victory.

Hear from Kempe, defenseman Matt Roy and Head Coach Jim Hiller following tonight’s win over Anaheim.

Adrian Kempe

Matt Roy
On finding a way tonight to get the two points
That was huge. Every point matters right now. We dug ourselves in a bit of a hole there in January, so we need to take every win we can get now.

On his first game in playing with Brandt Clarke as a defensive partner
I thought it was good. Like I said before, he’s very skilled, he’s a good playmaker and a good skater. He’s fun to play with.

On if tonight felt at all like a night on which he had 10 shots on goal
Yeah, I didn’t really know that so I don’t know. I don’t know what happened. It’s nice to get shots on net and just trying to get the puck to the forwards down there.

On the team not scoring a 5-on-5 goal over the last two games
I think it’s important that we bear down here going forward. Getting closer to playoffs, I think 5-on-5 play is going to be huge and then if we can keep that to a minimum and get some of our own 5-on-5 and let our special teams do their work, I think it’s going to help us a lot.

On if getting pucks to the net was a specific focus tonight
Just getting bodies to the net getting pucks on net. There’s always rebounds and pucks laying around the net that the forwards can bat in for us. I think it’s just something that we need to focus on moving forward and try to put his many away as we can.

Jim Hiller
On the importance of finding a victory and collecting two points tonight
It was really important. wWe generated 50 shots, plenty of chances, their goalie played very well, but having said that, our goalie had to play very well too. Not as many chances but they had some real looks off the rush that we didn’t like, but the goalie was there to make the saves.

On Matt Roy getting 10 shots on goal and the team’s defensemen getting 20+
Yeah, I wouldn’t have believed you, first of all, and beyond that, our d-core I think had 21 shots, so 10 from Matt for sure, but as a d-core if you would have told me our d-core was going to have 20 shots tonight, I wouldn’t have believed you on that one either. We did a good job in the o-zone, I thought our forwards did a good job. We held onto pucks a little more than we did versus Nashville. We got it to the top and those guys found some lanes and found the net and we just couldn’t find that rebound. We had some tips, just couldn’t find that rebound.

On the team not scoring at 5-on-5 over the last two games
I mean, in the Nashville game, we didn’t generate a lot and we didn’t get inside. Tonight, you know, you have that many opportunities, you throw the puck there. We were inside and again, we faced an extremely hot goaltender. We’ll take that offensively. We’re not going to overthink that one.

On Kevin Fiala scoring a power-play goal for the third straight game
Goalscorers, they like to feel it you know what I mean? Once you get one, all of a sudden you’ve got a little more confidence, instead of thinking pass-shot, you’re thinking shot. I think that’s what we’re seeing with Kevin and I thought that was one of Kevin’s better games of the year in the o-zone. He looked like himself, he had a couple of reverse hits, he protected the puck, he took people on 1-on-1. I thought that was a really encouraging game from Kevin.

On the play of the team’s defensemen tonight, with jumbled pairs after Mikey Anderson’s injury
There was lots going on, there’s power plays and penalty kills, that gets everything off kilter a little bit too. You know, I thought the guys did a good job with the minutes, Dewey played a lot. Overall, we made some mistakes, the forwards were in on some of those mistakes. I thought the guys on the back end did a decent job.

On if the team has done anything differently since the All-Star break in OT/SO situations
Just kind of the way it goes. The shootout, it’s tough to predict and when you’re in a funk, you don’t feel good. When you start scoring, you win two in a row, now you feel good the next time you go into it. Just like anything else, it’s a momentum play and we were struggling for a while and now we’re scoring, so it feels better.

Hiller added after the game that the Kings will likely recall defenseman Jacob Moverare from the AHL’s Ontario Reign tomorrow, with Moverare joining the team on the trip to Western Canada.

Notes –
– Kevin Fiala (1-1=2) scored his 16th goal and collected his 31st assist of the season, extending his goal streak to a season-long third game (3-0=3). Fiala’s goal marked his seventh power-play goal (PPG) of the campaign, tied with Anže Kopitar for the team lead. With his pair of points, Fiala has 23 career points (15-8=23) against the Ducks, tying Nick Schmaltz (6-17=23) for the third-most points against Anaheim among skaters selected in the 2014 NHL Draft. Fiala also overtakes Timo Meier (14) for most goals (15) scored against the Ducks in league history among Swiss-born skaters. Fiala’s three-game goal streak marks the second such streak of his Kings tenure (Nov. 10-14, 2022; 3-1=4).
– Drew Doughty (1-1=2) scored his 13th goal and tallied his 20th assist of the season, extending his point streak against Anaheim to a seventh game (2-9=11) dating back to Nov. 20, 2021. Doughty becomes the second defenseman in franchise history to record a point streak against the Ducks of seven games or more, joining Lubomír Višňovský (10GP, 3-9=12). With the assist, Doughty has recorded 20 assists in a season for the 15th time in his career, breaking a tie with Dave Taylor (14) for sole possession of the second-most such seasons by a skater in Kings history, behind only Anže Kopitar (18). Drew Doughty becomes the 22nd defenseman in NHL history to record 15 20-assist seasons.
– Doughty’s pair of points marked his 46th and 47th career points against the Ducks (9-38-47), passing Sergei Zubov (10-36-46) for the third-most points by a defenseman against Anaheim in league history. It is Doughty’s 11th multi-point outing against Anaheim, tying Al MacInnis (11) for the most multi-point games against the Ducks by a defenseman in NHL history.
– Doughty’s goal marked his sixth power-play tally of the 2023-24 campaign, the second-most among all Kings skaters, and tied with Roman Josi (6) and Evan Bouchard (6) for the most in the league among defensemen.
Doughty also joins Nicklas Lidstrom (26) as the only defenseman in league history to record 20 power-play assists against the Ducks.
– Adrian Kempe (0-2=2) picked up his team-leading 31st and 32nd assists of the season for his 14th multi-point game of the campaign, extending his point streak to a fourth game (2-4=6) and extending his point streak against Anaheim to a 10th game (8-10=18) dating back to May 1, 2021. Kempe joins Ľubomír Višňovský (10GP, 3-9=12) and Anže Kopitar (11GP, 6-9=15) as the only skaters in franchise history to record a 10-game point streak against the Anaheim Ducks.
– With his pair of assists, Kempe becomes the first Kings skater this season to hit the 50-point mark. It is Kempe’s third career 50-point season. Kempe becomes the fastest Swedish skater in Kings history to hit the 50-point mark since Ziggy Palffy (48GP, 20-30=50; 2002-03).
– Matt Roy recorded a single-game career high of 10 shots on goal, besting his previous career high of six (4x, most recent; Oct. 18, 2022, at NSH). Roy is the first Kings blueliner to record 10 SOG in a game since Rob Blake (10; Jan. 5, 2008, vs CGY).
– Anže Kopitar skated in his 1,348th career regular season game, tying Marcel Dionne for 56th-most games played in NHL history, and sits one game shy of Kirk Muller (1,189) for 55th all-time.
– David Rittich stopped 22 of 24 shots to pick up his first shootout win as a member of the Kings, improving his record to 9-3-3 on the season.

The Kings will travel to Edmonton tomorrow, to begin a three-game roadtrip in Western Canada. The team will return to the ice on Monday morning, February 26 at 10:30 AM Pacific, 11:30 AM local time, at Rogers Place in Edmonton.

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