PRESEASON FINAL – Kings 3, Anaheim 2 – Laferriere, Spence, Rittich, Hiller

The LA Kings skated to their second victory of the preseason, a 3-2 win over the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday afternoon in Ontario.

The teams traded power-play goals in the first period, taking the game into the first intermission tied at one.

For the Kings, their power play was 4-on-3, following a set of matching penalties and an infraction on Anaheim shortly after. Forward Adrian Kempe hammered a one-timer on net, with Ducks goaltender Lukas Dostal making the save, but the puck sat in the crease where forward Alex Laferriere poked home the rebound for an early 1-0 advantage. Laferriere has scored power-play goals in back-to-back games.

Later in the opening period, the Ducks capitalized with a power-play goal of their own. Holding the puck below the goal line, forward Sam Colangelo faked a pass through the crease for a back-door play and kept the puck himself for a shot, placing it underneath the crossbar for the game-tying goal.

The second period continued with the trend of special teams, as the Kings scored the only goal of the frame while shorthanded. Just seconds into an Anaheim power play, Los Angeles went the other way, 2-on-1, with Adrian Kempe and Anze Kopitar. Kempe drew attention to himself down the left wing before feeding the puck through the slot to Kopitar, who one-timed the shot past Dostal for the go-ahead goal.

The same suspects pushed the Kings’ lead to 3-1 early in the third period, this time with the game’s first 5-on-5 goal of the afternoon. Working out of the corner, Kopitar fed Laferriere, who was stationed in the slot, where the young winger ripped a shot first time, past Dostal, for his second goal of the game and a two-goal advantage for the Kings.

With just inside five minutes remaining in regulation, Anaheim pulled back to within a goal, with veteran forward Frank Vatrano getting on the board. Stationed in the low slot, Vatrano deflected a shot from the outside, pushing the puck inside the far post and in, past Kings netminder David Rittich, for his first goal of the afternoon.

Hear from Laferriere, Rittich, defenseman Jordan Spence and Head Coach Jim Hiller following tonight’s game.

Alex Laferriere
On his role on the power play and scoring again from close range
I think my job is just to kind of retrieve pucks, get rebounds when they’re there and let the shooters be shooters. Obviously, Juice loves to shoot the puck and Kev is out there, he loves to shoot the puck too. So, as long as I can be in the goalie’s eyes and find those rebounds, it’s my job.

On his 5-on-5 goal, getting a shot through from the slot
Yeah, I think kind going through it last year, one area I wanted to improve on a lot was kind of my shots in the slot and getting them through. So, that’s kind of what I’ve been working on in summer and I think that was an example of that there. Luckily that one came in.

On getting a shift at center during the second period
I honestly don’t know [the last time I played there], I have not played much center. I think when there’s penalties and stuff like that, kind of gets jumbled up and luckily enough, Jimmy trusts me out there. I think I played it pretty defensive, so that kind of goes to center pretty easy. I’m not very good at faceoffs yet, though.

David Rittich
On his preseason debut and going the distance
Obviously a great feeling to get the first one, to get the game feeling back, all of the things around the game and learn how to play the game again, so it’s good that I got it right away. Now we move on.

On getting the opportunity to play in Ontario, where he build momentum last season
I mean, the crowd was probably the best of what I’ve ever seen here, so it was fun to play here. We love to play for our fans too, so we just can’t wait to play at Crypto.

On if there is an ideal number of games he wants to play in the preseason
I’m not the one making that decision, it’s on coaches. Whatever they’re going to give me, they’re going to give me and I’ll work with that.

Jordan Spence
On being back in Ontario and experiencing a full building in his former home arena
It feels pretty good. I’ve been here for the first two years and I think it brings back a lot of memories, a lot of good memories. It was pretty cool coming back here and playing in front of these fans.

On seeing players like Kopitar and Kempe take over in a game like this
They’re the top guys on our team, so I’m not surprised with them getting goals, but at the same time, I think we’re just trying to get ready for the regular season. We have three more games and we’re just trying to get our feet wet, trying to prepare for the regular season, go from there.

On a potentially elevated role in the lineup, with Drew Doughty out of action
I mean, I don’t think we’ve had a lot of talks yet. It’s very unfortunate that Dewey got hurt. He’s a big part of our team, on and off the ice, but at the end of the day, we have to focus on what’s ahead. For us, I think if there’s opportunities for myself to get more ice time and play PK, PP, I need to step up and do the best I can and try and contribute and win games.

Jim Hiller

The Kings have a full team day off tomorrow and will return to the ice on Monday, with just one group. Ontario Reign training camp also kicks off on Monday and I’d expect some roster moves to come tomorrow at some point.