LOS ANGELES — During the preseason overall and in Saturday afternoon’s clash at Crypto.com Arena in particular, the Kings struggled early but flourished late.
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They won their second straight exhibition match after opening their four-game slate with a pair of losses, blowing past the Ducks 6-2 despite twice falling behind early.
Both teams played close approximations of their opening-night rosters in their final tuneup action.
“There was a good majority of our players and a good majority of their players, which was good,” Kings coach Peter Laviolette said. “That was meaningful, in training camp, to be able to play a last game (between) their team and our team.”
Free-agent signing Mats Zuccarello spearheaded the victory with a goal and two assists, one on each of two goals by Alex Turcotte, who added an assist. Career King Adrian Kempe and newcomer Erik Haula both had a goal and an assist. Scott Laughton also scored. Drew Doughty contributed three assists. Darcy Kuemper stopped 17 pucks.
Nikita Nesternko and Beckett Sennecke tallied for the Ducks. Lukáš Dostál was touched up for six goals on 20 shots.
In the third period, the Kings busted the contest open, completing a run of five unanswered goals.
Their second of the day on the power play came by way of Haula. He won an offensive-zone faceoff to Doughty, who hit Turcotte for a one-timer that clanked off the end boards and came directly to Haula with 8:08 to play.
“This shows what we can work on as a group,” said Ducks defenseman Jackson LaCombe, adding that “we have to fix our details and some habits.”
Zuccarello continued his smashing debut when he stole the puck from Nick Jensen in the neutral zone before delivering a quick pass that sprang Turcotte for a top-shelf, far-side snipe with 11:04 remaining.
Just 1:39 into the closing stanza, the Kings extended their lead to 4-2. Doughty’s firm shot from the point was deflected home by Turcotte, who centered the second line Saturday.
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“Great performance. It’s fun to see him get rewarded with some goals and some points, he works really hard every day and it doesn’t always pay off” Kempe said of Turcotte. “It was really fun to see him play those type of minutes.”
After the Ducks’ nifty passing sequence resulted in a goal on their first power play of the game, the Kings requited, 8:56 into the second period.
Quinton Byfield’s agile keep-in gave way to Kempe and Artemi Panarin playing pitch-and-catch in the left circle before Panarin’s kneeling cross-ice dish became Zuccarello’s kneeling one-timer. The puck banked off Dostál for the 39-year-old Zuccarello’s first goal in a Kings sweater.
“There’s definitely a high hockey IQ there, also, he’s skilled,” said Laviolette of Zuccarello, who’d been dealing with a shoulder injury. “For being out, getting into a game situation and connecting on a one-timer on the backside, he’s had a high skill level his whole career. He brings a lot of positive attributes to the team.”
The Ducks took a pair of one-goal leads, but in each instance the Kings came up with an equalizer, leaving the score level, 2-2, through 20 minutes.
The Kings scored twice in the final 1:04 of the first period in their win over the Ducks on Wednesday and got another last-minute marker in the opening frame Saturday. Kempe took a Brian Dumoulin pass off the heel of his stick, staying with the play and slipping the puck under Dostál’s right pad.
Sennecke had given the Ducks an edge with a power-play goal, receiving a Leo Carlsson feed at the side of the net and swiping a deceptive low shot through Kuemper’s five-hole from a sharp angle at 16:32.
The Kings had earned their first goal at the 8:44 mark, when Laughton’s doggedness paid dividends. He dumped the puck to initiate the forecheck, went to work below the goal line and then popped in front, where Cody Ceci’s slam off the boards came to him for a close-range goal.
The Ducks opened the scoring at 7:06 after puck drop, cashing in off a strong forecheck of their own. Judd Caulfield’s hit separated Turcotte from the puck, then Tim Washe found an unmarked Nesterenko on the doorstep for a redirection goal.
Next up, the Kings open the regular season in Denver against the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday and the Ducks will also start on the road, traveling to Vegas for a bout with the Golden Knights on Friday.
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