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The Kings and Ducks backed into Saturday’s rivalry game at Crypto.com Arena.
The Kings came out of the NHL’s three-day holiday break having lost six of their last seven, scoring just 11 goals over that span. Only two teams in the Western Conference have been worse in December.
The Ducks hadn’t been much better, though, having won just two of their last seven to give up their lead in the Pacific Division. But the league rules said somebody had to win and that proved to be the Kings, who rode a four-goal first period and Alex Laferriere’s first hat trick to a dominant 6-1 victory that wasn’t nearly as close as the final score indicated.
“It’s a weird point in the year,” said Laferriere, whose last three-goal game was in college. “But we’re lucky enough to have some players who have had a lot of experience and who have been through the wringer in this league. For us young guys it’s nice to be able to look at those guys and see how they handle situations like this. Being able to lean on those guys and look at them and see how patient they are in not forcing anything, it gives us a sense of relief.”
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The Kings’ first two goals, from Drew Doughty and Trevor Moore, came in the first four minutes. Laferriere got his first midway through the period and after Quinton Byfield scored on a power play just before the intermission, the Kings took a 4-0 lead into the locker room at the break.
“This felt different,” said coach Jim Hiller, whose team matched a season high in goals. “It just felt right. And so I wasn’t surprised that we’re able to finally score a few.”
Doughty put the Kings in front to stay just three minutes after the opening faceoff, finding open ice on the edge of the crease, where he took a pass from Byfield and deflected it past Ducks goalie Lukas Dostal. The second assist on the goal went to former Duck Corey Perry.
Moore doubled the lead less than a minute later, redirecting in a feed from Brian Dumoulin in the left circle. Ducks coach Joel Quenneville responded by calling a 30-second timeout in an effort to settle his team.
That didn’t work, with Laferriere blasting a one-timer by Dostal from just outside the crease to make it 3-0 with 9:39 left in the first period. When Byfield scored on a power play in the final minute, the Kings had their first four-goal period of the season and their first four-goal game in nearly three weeks.
After being booed off the ice at the end of their previous game, a 3-2 loss to Seattle on Wednesday, the Kings left to cheers for the first intermission.
The Ducks finally got on the board when Mason McTavish scored on the power play midway through the second period. They worked hard for that goal, outshooting the Kings 12-1 in the period yet coming away with just the one score.
Laferriere wound up matching that less than five minutes into the third period, scoring on a breakaway to give him the third multi-goal game of his career and first this season. Dumoulin and Anze Kopitar both got a second assist on the goal. And Laferriere wasn’t done, scoring his 10th goal on a one-timer from the high slot at 13:15 of the final period.
The six goals for the Kings matched their season high and was one short of what they had scored in their last four games combined.
