THE Kings And Ducks backed into Saturday’s rivalry match at Crypto.com Arena.
The Kings came out of the NHL’s three-day vacation having lost six of their last seven games, scoring just 11 goals over that span. Only two teams in the Western Conference were worse in December.
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The Ducks hadn’t been much better, however, winning just two of their last seven games, losing their lead in the Pacific Division. But league rules said someone had to win Saturday and it turned out to be the Kings, who scored four goals in the first period and Alex Laferrièrethe first career hat trick against a dominant 6-1 victory it wasn’t as close as the final score indicated.
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Drew Doughty put the Kings in front to stay just three minutes after the first faceoff, finding open ice at the edge of the crease, where he received a pass from Quinton Byfield and deflected it past the Ducks goalie Lucas Dostal. The second assist on the goal went to former Duck Corey Perry.
Trevor Moore doubled the lead less than a minute later, redirecting a pass from Brian Dumoulin into the left circle. Ducks coach Joel Quenneville responded by calling a 30-second timeout in an effort to calm his team down.
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It didn’t work, as Laferrière fired a one-timer from Dostal 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 last game, a 3-2 loss to Seattle on Wednesday, the Kings left to cheers from the first intermission.
The Ducks finally got on the board when Mason McTavish scored on a power play midway through the second period. They worked hard to achieve that goal, outscoring the Kings 12-1 in the period, but coming away with just one score.
Laferrière eventually tied that number less than five minutes into the third period, scoring on a breakaway to give him the third multi-goal game of his career and his first this season. Dumoulin and Anze Kopitar both had their second assists on the goal.
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And Laferrière wasn’t done, scoring his 10th goal on a one-timer from the top of the slot at 13:15 of the final period. The Kings’ six goals matched their season high and were one fewer than they had scored in their last four games combined.
This story was originally published in Los Angeles Times.
