The Kings avoided the Thanksgiving hangover Friday afternoon in episode two of the 2024-25 Freeway Face-Off series. Fresh off of one of their biggest wins of the season on Wednesday over the NHL-best Winnipeg Jets, the Kings backed it up and defeated the Anaheim Ducks 2-1, but not without some late drama and nail-biting moments in the third period.
It took some time before the game’s first goal as a scoreless first period played out to begin the tilt. After 20 minutes of play, each team was unsuccessful in one power play opportunity and the Ducks led 9-8 in the shot department.
The Ducks broke the ice with the game’s first goal early in the second period. An offensive zone face-off win for the Ducks resulted in possession. Quickly, a shot from the point by Drew Helleson was deflected on net by Ryan Strome and a rebound presented itself. Strome followed up his tip and knocked in the rebound for his fifth goal of the season. The Kings responded halfway through the period and it was the depth scoring coming up clutch again. After a neutral zone turnover by the Ducks resulted in the puck on Alex Laferriere’s stick, Laferriere and Alex Turcotte went the other way on a two-on-one and a tape-to-tape pass to Turcotte gave the former first round draft pick a lane for a shot. Turcotte made no mistake and beat John Gibson short-side up top to tie the game. Turcotte’s goal was the second of the season. No more scoring followed in the period and the Ducks took a 19-14 shot advantage into the third period.
Enter period three and the Kings quickly took the lead. Coming just 1:18 in, a clean zone entry gave Phillip Danault a lane towards the Ducks the net. Danault centered the puck and a trailing Laferriere won the race to the loose puck in the slot and buried the go-ahead goal. Laferriere’s goal gives him 10 on the season, now trailing Adrian Kempe by just one for the team lead.
Standing tall in net while making his NHL debut was Erik Portillo. While under siege in the third period, drama hit Portillo as his skate blade was dislodged and briefly forced him out of the game for a few minutes. David Rittich entered in relief for 1:23, made two saves and was replaced by Portillo following the equipment fix. Portillo stopped 12 shots in the third period and 28 shots in total, earning his first career win in impressive fashion.
