Kings score four in third period to top Ducks

Adrian Kempe and Alex Laferriere scored goals early in the third period to help lead the visiting Los Angeles Kings to a 4-1 victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday night in the first game of the sea

Kings score four in third period to top Ducks

Adrian Kempe and Alex Laferriere scored goals early in the third period to help lead the visiting Los Angeles Kings to a 4-1 victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday night in the first game of the season in the Freeway Faceoff Series.

Kevin Fiala and Mikey Anderson added two empty-net goals to cap the four-goal third-period and seal it for Los Angeles, which won its second straight game. David Rittich finished with 14 saves for the Kings, who were playing the sixth game of a season-opening seven-game road trip necessitated by arena renovations at Crypto.com Arena.

Ryan Strome scored a goal and Lukas Dostal made 33 saves for Anaheim.

The tight-checking contest featured just 28 shots on goal over a scoreless first two periods, including just 10 by the Ducks. The Kings had the two best scoring chances, with both coming in the second period. Defenseman Jordan Spence fired a shot off the post and Fiala lofted a backhand shot from the slot just over the crossbar.

Kempe then made it 1-0 at the 3:06 mark of the third period with his third goal of the season, taking a long bank pass off the boards from Anze Kopitar at the blue line and snapping a wrist shot that beat Dostal.

Laferriere increased the lead to 2-0 midway through the period when he intercepted defenseman Jackson LaCombe’s crossing pass in the high slot and fired a wrist shot into the top left corner of the net for his fourth goal.

Anaheim cut it to 2-1 with 1:44 remaining when Strome one-timed a shot from the top of the left circle through traffic and past Rittich’s glove side for his second goal.

Fiala backhanded in an empty-netter with 1:07 left for his fourth goal, and Anderson capped the scoring with 36 seconds to go with a length-of-ice empty-netter for his second goal.