Kings surge past Ducks with 4 goals in 3rd period

ANAHEIM -- Adrian Kempe, Alex Laferriere, Kevin Fiala and Mikey Anderson scored third-period goals for the Los Angeles Kings in a 4-1 win against the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center on Sunday.

Vladislav Gavrikov had two assists and David Rittich made 14 saves for the Kings (3-1-2), who have won two in a row.

"It's the never-ending battle of trying to make the play when it's there, and when it's not there, get in and put pressure on them because nobody likes to play under pressure," Kings coach Jim Hiller said. "I think the second half of the game we started to do that, and that's when we started to tilt the ice."

Ryan Strome scored and Lukas Dostal made 34 saves for the Ducks (2-2-1), who were outshot 38-15 two days after getting outshot 49-20 in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Colorado Avalanche.

"The last two games we've just been on cruise control. We're just watching the game," Ducks coach Greg Cronin said. "They've got to take ownership. The NHL is a fast game. If you don't skate to the finish line every time you're backchecking, forechecking, neutral zone regroups, you're not going to get the puck. It's that simple."

Kings center Anze Kopitar made a long pass off the boards to Kempe, who retrieved the puck, drove to the net on a breakaway and scored five-hole to give Los Angeles a 1-0 lead at 3:06 of the third period.

"When you see that ‘Kopi' or [Quinton Byfield] or whoever has the puck on their tape with time, especially if I have a D-man on me that I can beat, I'll just take off and those guys know that," Kempe said. "They've found me so many times before, so that's a good asset to have and I'm very grateful I'm playing with good passers."

The Kings made it 2-0 at 8:58 when Laferriere capitalized on Jackson LaCombe’s defensive-zone turnover, intercepting a pass through the slot and firing a wrist shot past Dostal.

LaCombe was making his season debut after missing the past four games with an illness.

"He had two shifts that weren't good, but I thought his other shifts were fine," Cronin said of the 23-year-old defenseman.

The Ducks cut it to 2-1 with 1:44 left when Strome redirected a shot from Troy Terry past Rittich just as Dostal was exiting the ice for the extra attacker.

Fiala scored an empty-net goal with 1:07 remaining to make it 3-1, and Anderson added another with the net empty with 36 seconds left for the 4-1 final.

"They’re a big, mature team, but we could’ve made it harder on them by putting pucks in the areas where we can go get them," Ducks defenseman Radko Gudas said. "I think we could have made it a lot easier on us and harder on them, for sure."

The Ducks entered the game 0-for-14 on the power play this season and failed to capitalize on three man-advantage opportunities in this one.

"The power play was a microcosm of our game," Cronin said. "They pressure really hard up to the points, they pressure down low. They force you to make decisions under pressure and we were slow getting to our spots to try and relieve some pressure."

The Kings had two power plays in the second period, but they also came up empty. Los Angeles outshot Anaheim 12-4 in the period.

"We were pushing, but we were playing really good defense," Rittich said. "The L.A. Kings are known for good defense, and we showed that today."

Notes: Kempe has 20 points (nine goals, 11 assists) in his past 13 games against the Ducks. ... Laferriere has scored the game-winning goal in two straight games for the first time in his NHL career. ... Kopitar's assist gave him 1,219 NHL points (422 goals, 797 assists), tying him with Jean Beliveau for 45th on the all-time NHL list. ... Kings defenseman Joel Edmundson returned after missing two games for the birth of his child and contributed two hits in 20:13 of ice time. ... Ducks defenseman Pavel Mintyukov did not play because of an illness. ... Ducks forward Frank Vatrano returned after missing Friday’s game for the birth of his child and had two blocked shots and two hits in 14:57.