FINAL

The LA Kings made it three consecutive victories with a 6-3 win over the Anaheim Ducks on Friday evening at Honda Center.

Forward Kevin Fiala led the way with a three-point night (1-2-3), while five additional Kings had multi-point games. Forward Viktor Arvidsson scored twice, while Blake Lizotte and Anze Kopitar each had a goal and an assist. Defenseman Drew Doughty and forward Alex Iafallo each added two assists in the win.

The visitors scored the lone goal from the first period, taking a 1-0 advantage into the first intermission. Stationed in front of the net, Lizotte got a stick on a shot from Iafallo and redirected the puck past Anaheim netminder John Gibson. Lizotte's goal was his eighth of the season, with Fiala also netting an assist on the play.

Anaheim equalized just shy of six minutes into the second period, through defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk. With forward Brett Leason providing the screen in front of Kings netminder Pheonix Copley, Shattenkirk sent a shot from the right point that evaded everyone and went inside the far post and in for his second goal of the season.

The Kings scored twice in the back half of the middle stanza to open up a two-goal advantage.

First, the second line combined for a goal in transition, as Trevor Moore sent a pass through the slot to Arvidsson for the one-timer, which deflected off of an Anaheim stick and in for the 2-1 advantage. The Kings made it 3-1 through forward Adrian Kempe, who picked the low corner on the man advantage for his eighth goal in four games and his 11th against Anaheim over the last three seasons, the most in the NHL.

Late in the second period, Copley was assessed a match penalty for punching with the blocker, which saw his night come to a close with 16 saves on 17 shots. Goaltender Jonathan Quick entered the game late in the second period in relief.

The Ducks pulled back to within a goal early in the third period, scoring once on a five-minute man advantage to pull the score back to 3-2. Stationed in the right-hand circle, Anaheim forward Mason McTavish fired a one timer past Quick for his 12th goal of the season.

LA scored again on the power play, however, to take a 4-2 lead after killing the remainder of the five-minute major. Immediately off a faceoff win, Doughty and Fiala combined on a pair of quick passes, with Fiala feeding Kopitar for the one-timer in the high slot, which he buried past Gibson for his 17th goal of the season.

Once again, however, the hosts moved back to within a goal as forward Frank Vatrano scored his 14th goal of the season to pull the Ducks within 4-3. After Quick made a pair of saves at the top of his crease, Vatrano collected the second rebound and slotted it into the net for the goal.

The Kings iced the game with a third power-play goal, as well as an empty-net goal, to win the game by a 6-3 final. First, Arvidsson collected his second goal of the game as he moved out from the bottom of the left-hand circle and fired top blocker on Gibson for his 16th goal of the season. Fiala then put the game away with an empty-net goal, as Iafallo unselfishly passed up the shot to feed Fiala for the goal just inside the offensive blueline. Fiala picked up a three-point night with the tally.

Hear from Lizotte, Arvidsson, Doughty and Head Coach Todd McLellan following tonight's game.

Blake Lizotte

Viktor Arvidsson On the victory on the road, extending the winning streak to three gamesI think we started off good. The first period was good, good intensity and we spent a lot of time in their zone. In the second we got away from it a little bit and then starting the third on a five-minute kill can get you out of the rhythm but I think we managed to pull it off and get the win.

On his power-play goal late in the third period to seal the gameThe first time, [earlier in the game] I tried to pass it and Gibson kind of laid his blocker down there and blocked the pass, so I figured he would do the same again. So, I took it to the net and tried to go short side high and I managed to put it in.

On having two power plays that are scoring right nowOh, it's always good, it's competitive, I think we have competitive players on both units. So, obviously it's going good and everybody's scoring.

Drew Doughty On the win and the overall performanceIt's a big win. We didn't like our overall performance, the second period was a little bit sloppy, we thought. When you’re outplaying a team that hard in the first period, the tendency is to stay off the gas a little bit and that's something that we need to fix. We have to be able to play a full 60 minutes.

On the improvements of the power play and his unit specificallyThe power play is a lot better this year, we have a much better plan. Obviously we added Kevin, who is basically a power-play specialist. I’m very happy with how the power play is performing, really happy.

On the support from Kings fans tonight on the roadYeah, it seemed more like a home game than an away game, to be honest. When we would score, it looked like three quarters of the barn was standing up. Great support by our fans tonight. It felt really good.

Todd McLellan On making it three consecutive victories coming out of the All-Star BreakI thought it was a tough game to play, a tough game to win. It was competitive, we had to be patient, penalties, special teams situations, losing a starting goaltender, a lot of variables went into the night, but I was happy with the special teams and obviously finding a way to close out the night was important for us

On balancing the emotions between fighting for your goalie and calming down for the winAt this time of the year, the win is the most important thing, but we want to take care of teammates. I’m sure the Ducks team wants to do that as well, but it's about winning right now. I thought we controlled our emotions fairly well in that situation. We had an opportunity to regroup, it gave Quickie a chance to get his head ready for the third period. The penalty kill did a pretty good job, I know we got scored on once, but they did a real good job in that situation.

On the fire that Pheonix Copley showed late in the second periodHe's competitive. It was one of the first things we found out about him when training camp began, every team has their testing regiment that they go through and he wasn't going to be denied. He was carrying the goalie union if you will and you could see right away he's really competitive. In practice, he's competitive, even on drills or situations that don't necessarily mean a lot for the goaltender, he's there all the time and wants to make the save. Just a competitive individual.

On Jonathan Quick coming in and getting the job done to get the victoryThere's probably nobody else we’d rather have going into that situation, a guy that's played as many games as he has, he's played in this building many, many times on big nights. He came in unexpectedly and did a really, really good job. I believe he was the winning goaltender tonight, which is great, we needed that for him, he needed that for him. Coaches complimenting both goaltenders, usually that doesn't happen.

On Gabe Vilardi's return and playing him on the fourth lineI think it says a lot about the organization and how they have built it up over the years. We’ve got a lot of competition up front right now, we’ve mentioned that to the players over and over again. Gabe and Arthur, one has 17 and the other has 10 goals and if you want to call that our fourth line, that's where they’re playing, but they both play significant and key roles on the power play and that power play scored three tonight, so they got the job down there. They’re both coming back from injury, so they need to find their games a little bit, Trevor Moore as well, but at the end of the day, the depth is what should help us down the stretch.

Notes – – Adrian Kempe extended his goal-scoring streak into fourth game (8-1-9), matching his career-high (4 Games: Nov. 3-9, 2021, 4-0-4). Kempe has a team-leading 28th tallies this season and has scored nine goals (9-1-10) over his last six games. The goal also continues Kempe's point streak against the Anaheim Ducks, which now stands at seven games (5-5-10) dating back to May 1, 2021.– The last Kings player to record eight goals over a span of four games was Luc Robitaille in 1992-93. Bernie Nicholls’ nine goals from Nov. 17-23, 1988, stand as the highest total by a Kings player over the span of four games played.– Kevin Fiala (1-2-3) recorded his 17th multi-point game this season, his seventh outing with three-or-more points, to increase his team-leading point total to 57 (18-39-57). He now has 11 points (3-8-11) over his last eight games.– Blake Lizotte (1-1-2) registered his 25th and 26th points (8-18-26) of the year to establish a new single-season career high for points (26) and assists (18) in a season.– Anze Kopitar (1-1-2) collected his 14th multi-point effort and has eight points (2-6-8) in his last four games. Kopitar's two-point night gives him 83 career points (29-54-83) against the Ducks to tie Mike Modano (28-55-83) for the most career points against Anaheim in league history.– Drew Doughty (0-2-2) notched a pair of assists for his 41st career point (8-33-41) against Anaheim, surpassing Rob Blake (14-26-40) for sole possession of fourth most all-time against the Ducks in NHL history.– Viktor Arvidsson (2-0-2) tallied his second multi-goal game of the season for five points (3-2-5) in his last two games.– Jonathan Quick made seven saves in relief to secure his ninth win of the season, his first victory since December 1.– The Kings victory earned their fifth straight win against the Ducks (5-0-0) dating to Feb. 25, 2022. Per NHL PR, the Kings current five-game streak matches their longest head-to-head regular-season winning streak against Anaheim (5-0-0, Jan. 8, 2009 – Feb. 4, 2010).

The Kings are currently scheduled to hold a morning skate tomorrow at 10:30 AM at Toyota Sports Performance Center in El Segundo.

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