LOS ANGELES –– The Kings strung together their first chain of three wins this season thanks to their 5-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators at Crypto.com Arena on Saturday evening.
Both teams entered the game having won consecutive games to put them in search of their first three-game surge of the campaign. The Pittsburgh Penguins also reached three straight wins for the first time Saturday, leaving only Boston, Montreal, St. Louis, Chicago, Ottawa and the New York Islanders without three straight wins this year.
Alex Laferriere, Kevin Fiala, Anže Kopitar, Adrian Kempe and Trevor Moore all tallied for the Kings. Moore, Fiala and Kopitar each tacked on an assist. David Rittich beat back 20 Ottawa bids.
Tim Stützle and Adam Gaudette notched a goal apiece for the Sens. Anton Forsberg halted 22 shots.
Rittich, his defense and a late power-play goal slammed the door on Ottawa after being staked to an early third-period lead. Between goals, Rittich settled down a chaotic rush by denying Drake Batherson on the doorstep, and Moore iced the game with an empty netter from the red line after missing Friday’s match.
With 3:46 to play, Ottawa’s second too-many-men penalty proved ruinous when the Kings cashed in on the power play as Kempe’s snapshot extended his team lead in goals to 12 and his team’s lead to 4-2.
A mere 97 seconds into the closing stanza, the Kings took a 3-2 lead. Vladislav Gavrikov’s stretch pass for Moore put pressure on the defense, which failed to sort out the rush and allowed Kopitar behind them. Defenseman Nick Jensen batted the puck skyward before Kopitar knocked it out of the air and into the net.
In just 75 seconds between the 6:11 and 7:26 marks of the second period, the two sides exchanged goals to keep the contest tied through 40 minutes.
The Kings drew back even when Brandt Clarke’s sharp-angle heave created a rebound that handcuffed Ottawa defenseman Tyler Klevin. Fiala picked his pocket and fought through the check of Shane Pinto to deliver the equalizer
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Ottawa had taken its first lead of the night when Gaudette won an offensive-zone draw before getting position on Kopitar for a deflection goal off Thomas Chabot’s shot.
During a breakout midway through the period, a missed connection between Kevin Fiala and Joel Edmundson let the puck sail into the slot, where former King Michael Amadio found himself one-on-one with the goalie. Rittich absorbed the shot squarely and confidently to keep the score 1-0.
That lead came from the duo of Laferriere and Phillip Danault. They first combined on the forecheck and then hooked up on the game’s first goal when Danault’s pass from below the goal line led to a Laferriere shot that banked in off defenseman Jacob Bernard-Docker. After going six games without a point, Laferriere has two goals and three assists in his last three appearances.