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 match having won consecutive games 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.
The Kings’ streak began with a resounding triumph over the league-leading Winnipeg Jets and continued with two victories that hinged on strong third periods that broke second-intermission deadlocks against the Ducks and Senators on back-to-back dates.
“Big time, you know. Yesterday, in Anaheim, the third period was big, today, the third period was big,” Kevin Fiala said. “It’s nice to get those wins. At this time of year, we kind of get to know who we are.”
The Kings ranked 27th of 32 teams in first-period goals and 22nd in second-period goals but, with three final-frame tallies on Saturday, moved into a tie for first in the league with 36 goals in crunch time.
“Third-period hockey is probably the most important, that’s the finish line. No matter if you’re down or up, you’ve got to rely on all the guys, and I’m very proud of the team,” Fiala said.
Fiala, Alex Laferriere, 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, who put up only a quarter of the eight goals they slathered on the Kings in an overtime victory in Ottawa on Oct. 14. Anton Forsberg halted 22 shots Saturday.
Rittich, his defense and a late power-play goal slammed the door on Ottawa after being staked to an early third-period lead. Between those markers, Rittich settled down a chaotic rush by denying Drake Batherson on the doorstep. After all that, Moore iced the game with an empty netter from the red line after missing Friday’s match due to an illness.
With 3:46 to play, Ottawa’s second too-many-men penalty of the evening 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. Kempe and Fiala ran a give-and-go between the bottom of the right circle and the slot to cement the Kings’ triumph.
“We have so many weapons out there, we’ve got to use them,” Fiala said. “We were moving around today and everybody was everywhere, especially on that last (power play).”
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.
“I just felt like maybe I should just throw it toward the net and see if something happens there, and, you know, Kopi does Kopi things,” Moore said.
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.
“I was reading his shot, hoping for a bounce. I was kind of cheating over there and got the bounce, made a nice play and scored, so I was happy,” Fiala said.
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 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.
Deflating the feel-good vibes from the win was an early injury to veteran Trevor Lewis, who did not return to competition. Lewis, who will turn 38 in January, was playing in his 999th career game on Saturday.
“I don’t want to update. He looks like he’s going to be out for a while,” Hiller said. “We don’t know exactly yet, so I don’t want to speculate. I can tell you that he won’t be playing in the next game.”
