Kempe has hat trick, assist in return, Kings ease past Sharks

LOS ANGELES -- Adrian Kempe had three goals and an assist in the Los Angeles Kings’ 7-2 win against the San Jose Sharks at Crypto.com Arena on Wednesday.

Kempe, who missed the Kings’ 3-2 loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday because of illness, got his fifth NHL hat trick.

“It’s amazing, you know, the skill the speed, the shot,” Los Angeles center Quinton Byfield said. “Like when he’s going, he’s one of the best players in the League. And to have him on our team, it’s so exciting to watch.”

Artemi Panarin had four assists, and Byfield scored twice on the power play for the Kings (5-7-2), who have won two of three to start a seven-game homestand. Darcy Kuemper made 30 saves.

It was the largest margin of victory this season for Los Angeles, surpassing a 5-2 win at the Washington Capitals on Oct. 20.

“Tonight, it just seemed like it was on point,” Kings coach Peter Laviolette said. “I thought it was two really good days of practice, and then they just took it right into the game tonight and just were on the attack. I thought we were pretty good defensively, and it was just a really good team effort, I think.”

Macklin Celebrini and Ivar Stenberg each scored on the power play for the Sharks (7-9-1), who have lost three straight and five of six. Yaroslav Askarov made 20 saves. 

San Jose held a players-only meeting following the defeat, having been outscored 24-11 over the past six games.

“We’re just a little off, you know,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said. “So I think there’s some things that, believe it or not, were some positives, you know, and we’ll work from that. But, yeah, there’s still some things we got to get cleaned up.”

Kempe made an immediate impact in his return by scoring 1:23 into the game on a wrist shot from the slot on a breakaway that beat Askarov to his left stick side. He then buried a one-timer in the right circle off Erik Gustafsson’s pass to put Los Angeles up 2-0 at 16:09.

“Pucks just went in, I think,” Kempe said. “Another game, a lot of chances, and tonight they went in early and then often, so that was nice.”

Byfield made it 3-0 on a power play at 18:38, waiting in the slot for a one-timer off Panarin’s pass. Kempe had the secondary assist as the Kings scored with the man-advantage for the third straight game.

“I don’t know if we played that bad,” Celebrini said of the first period. “Made a couple mistakes and it cost us, and especially playing a team against like them. They have some skill, so they made us pay.”

The Sharks cut it to 3-1 on Celebrini’s sixth goal of the season at 5:07 of the second period. Celebrini beat Kuemper with a wrist shot from the high slot through traffic on a power play.

Erik Haula restored a three-goal margin for Los Angeles by making it 4-1 at 11:10 on a backhand from the slot set up by Kenny Connors’ centering pass from the left goal line along the glass. It was Connors’ first assist and point in three NHL games.

“Everybody was really excited for him in the moment, and then after the game as well,” Laviolette said of Connors. “Just to acknowledge that it’s a long road to get to the NHL, and guys get first games, or they get their first points or their first goal, whatever it is. Those are big deals, and you know he’s worked really hard to get to that point." 

Kempe got his hat trick at 15:51 of the second period by putting in Alex Laferriere’s cross-slot pass with a one-timer from the left circle to give the Kings a 5-1 lead. 

Joel Armia made it 6-1 at 2:12 of the third period by attacking the crease and sweeping in Haula’s centering pass.

Stenberg’s shot from the left circle redirected in off Kings defenseman Joel Edmundson on a power play at 9:41 to pull within 6-2 before Byfield tipped Panarin’s shot at 14:28 for the 7-2 final.

Los Angeles was 3-for-5 on the power play. San Jose was 2-for-6.

“Lots of little plays, good plays that I thought were really good,” Laviolette said. “‘Bread’ (Panarin) had a few last passes through the seam to the back today, which was really good. ‘Gus’ (Gustafsson) had nice plays at the top, and so I thought they moved it really well. ‘Kemps,’ obviously, he was connecting on the other end of it.”

NOTES: Kempe moved into a tie with Charlie Simmer and Jimmy Carson for ninth in hat tricks in Kings history. … Kempe’s 37th career multigoal game moved him into ninth in Kings history, breaking a tie with his former teammate Dustin Brown (36). … Sharks defenseman Eric Pohlkamp made his NHL debut and had three shots with a minus-1 rating in 17:39 of ice time.