ROOKIE FINAL – Kings 4, Ducks 1 – Connors, George, Lawrence, Lord

The LA Kings rookies finished off the 2025 Golden State Rookie Faceoff with a 4-1 victory over the Anaheim Ducks.

The Kings were propelled by 37 save from goaltender Carter George and a hat trick from forward Kenny Connors, the game’s top two stars on the Kings side. Forward Koehn Ziemmer also scored, his second goal in as many days, as the Kings finished off their tournament with a 1-1 record, evening things out after falling to San jose yesterday afternoon.

The first period came and went without a goal for either team. Anaheim led in the shots on goal department 11-7 and had the two most dangerous chances of the opening frame, both of which were denied by George. After he made a right-shoulder save midway through the period on a partial breakaway, George made a tidy glove save with just under three minutes to play in the first, preserving the 0-0 scoreline after 20 minutes.

The Kings opened the scoring early in the second period as forward Koehn Ziemmer found the back of the net for the second straight game. Forward Liam Greentree showed good patience on the right-wing boards and fed Ziemmer cutting through the neutral zone in stride, allowing him to gain a step between the Anaheim defensemen. Ziemmer snapped his shot low on the blocker side and in for his second of the tournament and a 1-0 lead.

The Kings got two goals from Kenny Connors in the second period, opening up a 3-0 advantage after 40 minutes.

First, the Kings scored a power-play goal, with Connors finishing off a nice sequence that started with passes from Greentree and forward Aatu Jamsen. Connors received the final pass in the slot and beat Anaheim goaltender Tomas Suchanek clean for the 2-0 lead. Connors – technically – made it 3-0 with a shorthanded goal later in the period. His clearance from his own zone was played by Suchanek, who shot the puck into his own net, with Connors the last King to touch it.

Anaheim got on the board early in the third period, cashing in with a power-play goal to make it 3-1. It took something pretty well executed to beat George and the Ducks put three passes together, resulting in a one-timer from the slot by forward Tim Washe, which he converted from close range to snap George’s shutout bid and put the hosts on the board.

Inside the final minute of the game, Connors finished off his hat trick with an empty-net goal, bringing us to the final score of 4-1.

Hear from Connors, George, forward Kaleb Lawrence and Head Coach Andrew Lord following today’s victory.

Highlight Package

Post-Game Interviews

Carter George
On his approach in the third period, facing a lot of shots with the Kings leading
Yeah, for sure. I mean, after they got the first one, you better make the next save and for me, I’ve always thought that you’ve got to slow the momentum down and turn the tables kind of thing. So we wanted to put the momentum back on our side, we had a huge kill and after that, it kind of turned around.

George, on his goals heading into training camp next week
Yeah, I think for me, I just want to myself at main camp. I think I want to establish myself, going into those games and giving this team a chance to win. Whether it’s a main camp game, or whether it’s a preseason game, I just want to do my best.

Kenny Connors on his comfort level coming to his first Rookie Faceoff
We’ve been doing it for so long and there’s so much work put into it, I feel comfortable with the results because of the work I put in beforehand. So, I don’t ever feel nervous and stuff like that, but definitely feel more comfortable and confident on the ice with guys that I’ve been around before in [development] camp and stuff like that, so that helps. These guys, the staff, did a good job just preparing us throughout the week for two games against really good teams.

Connors on taking momentum from these games into his first NHL Training Camp
Yes, definitely. I think everyone in our room should feel the same way with that. I think that we competed for a full 60 tonight, a lot better than we did last night, but I think that we should all feel a sense of energy and confidence going into camp because of the two games that we played here. I’d say that the guys that I’ve talked to definitely felt the same way.

Andrew Lord on what he liked about today’s performance versus yesterday’s
Yeah, consistency was way better. Obviously the first, another great start, 10 minutes I thought we really pushed the pace, played more direct. We took our foot off the gas a little later in the first, started the second well again, but probably the last six minutes, I didn’t love it. Then in the third. I really liked the resiliency with a young group. They get the first goal there, that’d be pretty easy after last night to maybe get a bit down and lose track of things, but I thought we stayed the course and obviously exceptional goaltending as well as a big key.

Lord on Carter George’s play helping the Kings and how an improved defensive performance helped George as well
Yeah, it makes everyone’s job a little bit easier [to have George back there]. I did think if you look at it, we limited the odd-mans big time, definitely guarded the middle of the ice better. Last night, the second half of the game was all seam, seam, seam, back door. We eliminated most of that, which I think helped Georgie out, but he did great, he’s a great goaltender.

The Kings rookies are off tomorrow and will return to the ice for practice on Tuesday and Wednesday. The entire group will convene on the ice for Thursday as main training camp opens on Thursday morning at Toyota Sports Performance Center.