The LA Kings came out of the holiday break with a statement victory, as they skated to a 6-1 win over the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday evening at Crypto.com Arena.

Skating in Los Angeles, the hosts started off the game on an absolute tear, as they scored three goals in the first 10:21 to open up an early lead.

First, just over three minutes into the game, the Kings executed in transition to open the scoring. Forward Corey Perry used a deceptive pass to find Quinton Byfield with speed entering the offensive zone with possession. On his backhand, Byfield slid the puck towards the net to defenseman Drew Doughty, who activated off the rush, with the veteran blueliner burying his third goal of the season for the early 1-0 lead.

Less than 60 seconds later, the Kings doubled their advantage through forward Trevor Moore. Executing inside the offensive zone, the hosts controlled the puck along the perimeter with possession. Defenseman Brian Dumoulin activated down the left wing and sent a hard pass towards the crease, deflecting off Moore’s back skate and in for his sixth goal of the season and a multi-goal advantage.

Just past the halfway mark of the opening period, the Kings made it 3-0 as forward Alex Laferriere got in on the scoring. Executing off the cycle, forward Anze Kopitar worked the puck down the wall to forward Adrian Kempe behind the net, as the Kings moved the puck around in the offensive zone. Kempe stopped and fed Laferriere in front, where he one-timed his shot past Ducks goaltender Lukas Dostal and in for his eighth goal of the season.

Inside the final minute of the opening period, the Kings added a power-play goal to their tally as they finished the first with a season-high four goals. Defenseman Brandt Clarke got a shot through from the point, with Byfield getting a deflection on the way through to push the hosts ahead 4-0. The goal made it a multi-point game for Byfield, his first tally since November 13, in the highest-scoring period of the season for the Kings.

Midway through the second period, Anaheim got on the board with a power-play goal of its own, pulling back to within three goals. Ducks forward Mason McTavish worked his way to the net where he got on the end of a Beckett Sennecke rebound to get one past Kings netminder Anton Forsberg, his ninth of the season, as the visitors made it a 4-1 game.

Early in the third period, the Kings pulled that goal back as Laferriere buried for the second time in the game to make it 5-1. Dumoulin collected his second primary assist of the night to spring Laferriere on a breakaway, in alone on Dostal. Laferriere deked to his backhand and put home the goal with a smooth finish to restore the four-goal advantage. Kopitar collected the secondary assist, making it a multi-assist game for the captain as well.

Laferriere completed the hat trick later in the third period, the first of his NHL career, to put the cherry on top of a convincing victory. Laferriere worked his way up high in the offensive zone and after Kopitar fed the puck up from behind the net to Clarke, the blueliner fed Laferriere in the slot for a one-timer, which he hammered through traffic and in for his tenth goal of the season and the 6-1 lead.

Hear from Laferriere, Kopitar and Head Coach Jim Hiller after tonight’s game.

Alex Laferriere

Anze Kopitar
On the play of Alex Laferriere and their line tonight
I thought we came out, as a whole and as a line, we came out good in the first period and we were really moving the puck well, we were spending a lot of time in their zone and you just kind of want to build off the first couple shifts and then we were able to get on the board, actually scored four. That was good, Maybe a little bit of a lethargic second period and not the way we wanted to play and then came back in the third again. Laf was feeling it tonight, so really happy for him to get his first hat trick.

On scoring off the cycle and if that can be a staple of their line
You want to create as much o-zone time as you can and just kind of make something happen off of that. I thought we were attacking the net pretty well and that’s why all those maybe a little prettier plays open up like that. We were able to cash in on it.

On if it was more relieving or joyous to get the offensive breakout
Both, really. I think last game against Seattle, we had some good chances, we just didn’t score. Sometimes, when we were on that extended streak of not being able to put the puck in the net, you get thinking and you get discouraged a little bit. To see a few go in early tonight, especially after a break, it’s obviously a good thing. Hopefully we can continue building on that.

On getting a goal and four primary assists from the blueline
I think it’s been a couple games now to where they’ve been a little bit more active than maybe the start of the year. It just opens up the ice a little bit more, obviously another option coming out of our zone and going into the o-zone. Every team does it, so it’s nice to see the other guys do it and get rewarded for it.

Jim Hiller
On how long he’s been waiting for that type of offensive outburst
I mean, this felt different than the Chicago game. I know we got six against Chicago. This felt different. This felt a lot like the last couple months of last season, I thought.

On Alex Laferriere’s hat trick and it being a long time coming
Nine shots against Seattle, five tonight, so that’s 14 shots in two games. He’s coming off a game against Seattle where I thought he played really well. He had 14 [shots on goal], sooner or later they’ve got to start going in and those were some nice goals tonight too. He made some really nice plays. His line was good, complemented each other pretty well.

On the adjustments on the power play and how he felt they translated tonight
Well, we’ll take that one. We’ll take that one. I’m not going to say we’ve solved the whole thing quite yet, but we’ll take that one. I thought that group, in particular, with Kuzmanko and Fiala Byfield, Clarke, Perry, I thought those guys were moving the puck pretty well. I know they scored, but I thought they were a little bit more dangerous. The other group, not quite as much, you know, but that can change game to game.

On how the team takes this kind of win and builds on it
Well, we go in and play what is the best team in the league, right? So, you want to build on something, go in and beat the best team in the league in their building, that’s a big challenge. I think you get a game like tonight and you feel a little bit better about yourself, you go in there in the right frame of mind and see if you can’t get that done. Then, you can start building upon that area. We haven’t had a chance this year to really string five or six in a row and I’ve always felt like we could and that we’re going to. Maybe this is the start.

On the team putting its stamp on the game in the third period
It was a tale of two periods, right? First period was all ours, the second period was theirs. I didn’t think we skated so much in the second, we still tried to pass, first period we were passing and skating, second period, we were trying to pass, but we weren’t really skating, nor were we shooting it, we had a few opportunities. I thought we really got the game back together. Started putting pucks at the net, forechecking, skating. We still made plays but just got our legs going again, had to change the frame of mind just a little bit.

Notes –
Forward Alex Laferriere (3-0=3) notched his eighth, ninth, and 10th tallies of the campaign for his first career hat trick. The 24-year-old’s trio marks the first hat trick by a Kings skater this season and the first home-ice hat trick against the Anaheim Ducks in Kings franchise history.
– Forward Quinton Byfield (1-1=2) scored his fifth goal of the year after picking up his 16th assist of the season to reach the 20-point mark (5-16=21) for the fourth consecutive campaign. Byfield becomes the ninth different skater selected in the 2020 NHL Draft to record at least four separate 20-point seasons.
– Tonight’s effort marked Byfield’s 35th career multi-point effort, tying Butch Goring (35 GP) for the 10th most by a Kings skater at age 23 or younger.
– Defenseman Brian Dumoulin (0-2=2) recorded his seventh and eighth assists of the season, marking his 11th career multi-assist performance. Dumoulin has posted two of those 11 efforts this season, both against his former team, the Anaheim Ducks (0-2=2 on Nov. 28 at ANA).
– Captain Anze Kopitar (0-3=3) notched his 12th, 13th, and 14th assists of the season, the 850th, 851st, and 852nd helpers of his career. With his first assist, Kopitar reached the century mark in points against the Anaheim Ducks across the regular season and Playoffs (102 GP; 33-69=102). The Ducks become the second franchise Kopitar has achieved this feat against, following his 100 career points (31-69=100) in 96 games played against the Phoenix/Arizona Coyotes.
– Kopitar skated in his 46th career home game against the Anaheim Ducks, breaking a tie with Joe Thornton (45GP) for sole possession of the fourth most home games played against Anaheim in league history. With the trio of assists, Kopitar registered the 321st multi-point game of his career, tying Luc Robitaille for the second- most multi-point contests in Kings history, trailing only Marcel Dionne (392 GP). With 12 of those 321 efforts being logged in Freeway Faceoff matchups, Kopitar also ties Joe Thornton (12 GP) for the second-most multi-assist games against the Anaheim Ducks in League history, trailing only Mike Modano (15 GP).
– Kopitar’s third assist stood as the 852nd of his career, tying Bobby Clarke for the 28th-most in NHL history. Kopitar’s 1,298 career points (446-852=1,298) now sit only 10 shy for sole possession of the most in franchise history. The 38-year-old center also became the fifth player in Kings history to record 80 career three-point games, per NHL PR. Kopitar also played in his 1,487th career regular season game this evening, tying Wayne Gretzky (1,487 GP) for the 27th- most games played in League history.
– Defenseman Drew Doughty (1-0=1) scored his third goal of the season, the 10th of his career scored against the rival Anaheim Ducks. Doughty becomes the seventh defenseman in League history to score double-digit goals against the Ducks, joining Marc-Edouard Vlasic (10 G), Sergei Zubov (10 G), Nicklas Lidstrom (12 G) Al MacInnis (12G), Rob Blake (14 G) and Brent Burns (15 G). The goal also marked his 49th point (10-39=49) against the Ducks, tied for his highest point total against a single franchise (16-33=49 vs. Arizona), per NHL PR.
– The native of London, Ontario, now has 699 career points (163-536=699) and is now one point away from becoming the 32nd defenseman in NHL history to record 700 career points after breaking a tie with former Anaheim Duck Chris Pronger (157-541=698) for the 32nd most points by a defenseman in League history.
– Forward Trevor Moore (1-0=1) picked up his fifth goal of the season, the 99th goal of his career and now sits one goal shy of becoming the fourth California-born player in NHL history to reach 100 goals. Moore would become the first undrafted California-born skater to do so.
– Moore skated in his 400th regular season game as a member of the Kings this evening, becoming the ninth undrafted skater in franchise history to reach make as many appearances.
– Forward Corey Perry (0-1=1) collected his ninth assist of the season on Doughty’s game-opening goal.
– Defenseman Cody Ceci (0-1=1) picked up his sixth assist of the campaign
– Forward Adrian Kempe (0-1=1) tallied his team-leading 18th assist of the season, his 18th career helper against the Ducks, tying Luc Robitaille for the seventh most assists against the Ducks in Kings franchise history. With the assist, Kempe extends his home point-streak against the Ducks to a 10th game (3-12=15), dating back to April 26, 2021. Kempe becomes the first player in Kings history, and the eighth different skater in NHL history, to record such a streak against the Orange County club.
– Defenseman Brandt Clarke (0-2=2) recorded his 12th and 13th assists of the season. Clarke collected his third power play point of the season with his first career point against the Ducks at Crypto.com Arena. Overall, Clarke has five points (0-5=5) in seven games played against Anaheim.
– Forward Andrei Kuzmenko (0-1=1) extended his point streak to three games for the first time this season with an assist on Byfield’s power play goal.
– Per NHL PR, the Kings’ four first-period goals were the team’s most in the opening stanza since March 15, 2024.
– Goaltender Anton Forsberg made 25 saves on 26 shots on goal to record his fifth win of the season.

The Kings are scheduled to practice tomorrow, December 28, at 11 AM at Toyota Sports Performance Center before they travel to Colorado later in the day.