PRESEASON FINAL – Kings 6, Ducks 3 – Arvidsson, Kaliyev, McLellan

The LA Kings capped off the preseason with a 6-3 victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday afternoon at Crypto.com Arena.

Arthur Kaliyev led the Kings with three points (1-2-3) as one of six different goalscorers in the victory. Defenseman Sean Durzi also had a multi-point night (1-1-2), along with forwards Carl Grundstrom (1-1-2) and Viktor Arvidsson (0-2-2).

The Kings jumped out of the gates quickly with an early power-play goal to take a 1-0 lead. The first unit used quick puck movement to create several chances, though no goals, before Gabe Vilardi tapped home a rebound from inside the crease to open the scoring with the second unit. Vilardi’s goal was his team-leading fourth of the preseason.

The hosts added two more goals at even strength to take a 3-0 lead into the first intermission. First, Arthur Kaliyev, stationed at the top of the slot, fired home his third goal of the preseason past an unsuspecting John Gibson to push the Kings ahead by two. Just over three minutes later, Carl Grundstrom made it 3-0 with a pinpoint finish off the rush, top shelf shot from the left-hand circle, to put the Kings ahead by three.

The Ducks stormed back, however, with three goals in the second period to tie the game at three.

First, Troy Terry fed Mason McTavish streaking into the offensive zone, with the rookie forward deking back to his forehand for the goal in tight. Anaheim then pulled within one through Max Jones, who finished a 2-on-1 rush to bring the score to 3-2. The Ducks tied the game at three with a power-play goal from Terry, who beat Jonathan Quick through the five hole from the right-hand circle.

Late in the second period, the Kings regained the lead through Durzi, who scored his second goal in as many preseason games to restore a one-goal advantage. Stationed at the point, Durzi skipped a shot on goal that hit the ice on the way through and bounced upwards, through the six hole on Anaheim netminder Anthony Stolarz, for a 4-3 advantage through 40 minutes.

The Kings added a pair of goals in the third period to bring us to the 6-3 final. First Arvidsson found Phillip Danault in front of the net for a slam dunk just outside the crease, giving Danault his first goal of the preseason. Forward Kevin Fiala added the sixth of the afternoon, as he finished a cross-crease pass from forward Adrian Kempe, Fiala’s third tally of the exhibition slate.

Hear from Arvidsson, Kaliyev and Head Coach Todd McLellan following the game.

Viktor Arvidsson
On getting back out there with the team for the first time this preseason
It was good. A little bit excited and a little nervous too, after being hurt, coming off of the surgery and the injury, but it was fun. It was awesome to be back on the bench and to get back into the game.

On if playing tonight validated the more difficult times over the summer
Yeah, absolutely. It was so good to be back, it was good to just be with my teammates and around my teammates for the last week. Just being able to practice with them again and now play, it’s been really good.

On coming back with the comfort level of Danault and Moore on his line
Absolutely. It doesn’t matter who I play with, but us three as a line have been so good with each other, both on and off the ice, in practices and during the games. It obviously helps a lot.

Arthur Kaliyev
On what’s gone well for him offensively both tonight and throughout the preseason
Just playing hard everywhere, winning battles and making plays, I’m not thinking about just scoring, but it just comes along with it. You get your chances from just playing hard everywhere.

On finding space in the offensive zone
Whatever is open, I just try to find open space [in the offensive zone]. Whether it’s closer to the net or farther away, wherever there is open ice, I’m just trying to find that space.

On the power play and what he’s felt is working on the PP
We have a lot of intensity on that unit, good puck movement and we’ve gotten a lot of shots on net, which has created a lot of rebounds. It’s been good and hopefully we can keep it going into the regular season.

Todd McLellan
On the first period tonight and how it set up the game as a whole
The first period was probably our best first period of the preseason. Often, when you start with a power play right off the bat, it can dictate where that period goes and our power play was strong at that point. It helped us to get on our toes and get going. The game as a whole, I thought we gave it back a little bit in the second period. It started with a power play, the penalties are a common theme, but the third was a pretty good lockdown period.

On the puck movement on the power play and his assessment of that unit
We’ve spent some time, still not enough, working on some concepts, changing a few things. They are grasping the ideas and now it’s about execution, we’ve seen some good movement. The one thing that we can’t help them with is the finish, and we had a couple of open nets that we double-clutched or missed. Hopefully that comes more naturally as time goes on.

On seeing players in their opening night roles tonight
It was [important] and we treated at least the first 50 minutes of it trying to get a few matches, trying to game simulate what the regular season will feel like. Play the top lines a little bit more, get their minutes up to see what that feels like and then down the stretch, when we got that lead, we pulled back as we would maybe in the regular season and got our third and fourth lines out, who I thought played a really good, solid game for those six players. It felt more like the regular season.

On having Viktor Arvidsson back in the lineup tonight
Pretty rewarding, same comment as we had with Sean Walker. Arvi means a lot to our team, he completes the identity of that Danault and Moore line. I thought, of all the players we had coming back who had some sort of injury, he had probably the most energy and polish. Perhaps that’s because we played a full lineup too, but he had a good night. He told me on the bench he felt good, we tried to run him a little bit more down the stretch. A couple of good practices coming up and hopefully he’s ready to play in the real matches.

On if tonight’s game changed anything with regards to the final compilation of the roster
There’s some positives from tonight, the win, the power play at certain points looked good, the penalty kill did its job, but you’re asking me more about roster spots, who’s going and who’s staying. I don’t know that the plan is going to change a lot based on tonight’s game. I obviously had zero time to sit down with Blakey and his staff, we’re only 10 minutes since the game ended. I don’t know what transpired during the day as far as roster movements with other team’s players, there are so many variables that go into play, so for me to stand up here and give you the honest, straight answer, I can’t.

Notes –

– The Kings finished the preseason with a record of 3-3-1.
– Six different Kings scored in today’s victory, while 12 different Kings tallied a least a point, with four collecting multiple points.
– Arthur Kaliyev (1-2-3) recorded three points and finished the preseason with a team-high seven points (3-4-7).
– Gabe Vilardi’s first-period goal, which came on the power play, was his team-leading fourth goal of the preseason.
– The Kings have scored a power-play goal in six of seven games played during the preseason.
– Making his exhibition debut, Viktor Arvidsson collected two points (0-2-2) in the victory.
– Defenseman Sean Durzi registered another multi-point night and will finished the preseason with five points

The Kings have a scheduled team off day tomorrow and will return to the ice on Monday, October 10 at 11:00 AM at Toyota Sports Performance Center. The team begins regular-season play the following evening, against the Vegas Golden Knights at 7:00 PM at Crypto.com Arena.