The Ducks could not mount a third-period comeback in the final installment of the 2023 preseason Freeway Face-Off, falling 4-1 to the Los Angeles Kings tonight at Crypto.com Arena.
The loss drops Anaheim to 4-2-0 in the preseason, with two exhibition games still to play.
Brett Leason scored the lone goal for the Ducks, his third of the preseason. Zack Kassian and Radko Gudas collected assists. John Gibson made 36 saves.
Kevin Fiala, Adrian Kempe, Carl Grundstrom and Blake Lizotte scored for the Kings. Offseason acquisition Cam Talbot earned the victory in net, stopping 15-of-16 Anaheim shots.
The first period was all LA, as the hosts took an early lead and then struck twice in a span of 25 seconds to take a commanding three-goal edge into intermission.
Fiala scored the first off the rush, beating Gibson to the far post on a wraparound for his first goal of the preseason.
Fiala finished second among Kings team leaders in scoring last season, his first as a King, and led the club in assists (49).
Kempe and Grundstrom scored later in the period on back-to-back shifts, each capitalizing on a Ducks failed defensive zone clearing attempt.
Ducks forward Chase De Leo left the game with a lower-body injury in the second period after taking a retaliatory knee by Arthur Kaliyev, who had been cleanly checked to the ice seconds prior by Gudas. De Leo did not return to the game. Kaliyev was assessed a two-minute minor penalty.
Anaheim got on the board midway through the second period, when Leason's shot off a 2-on-1 rush was initially stopped by Talbot but on the rebound bounced off defenseman Mikey Anderson and over the goal line.
