The Los Angeles Kings hit the road on Black Friday to face their neighbors and long-time rivals, the Anaheim Ducks. The game was the first of the season’s meetings between the two, and kicked off the “Freeway Faceoff” series. The Kings sat at first in the Western Conference Wild Card spot, while the Ducks sat first in the Pacific Division.
First Period
Kings’ forward Alex Laferriere scored the first goal of the game, assisted by Trevor Moore and Brian Dumoulin. It took nearly 18 minutes before either team found the back of the net. Los Angeles also got the first power play of the game after Radko Gudas took a holding penalty. They would end the first period and start the second period with an extra attacker.
The period concluded with shots being nine to seven in favor of the Kings. The Ducks, however, controlled faceoffs, winning 63.2% of them. They were also dominant in hits, blocked shots, and takeaways.
Second Period
The Ducks successfully killed the penalty to start the second period. Later in the period, they had their first power play of the game after a trip was called on Alex Turcotte. Just 10 seconds in, Chris Kreider beat Darcy Kuemper and scored to tie the game. Troy Terry and Leo Carlsson assisted on the marker.
Very shortly after the Ducks’ goal, the Kings regained the lead when Kevin Fiala got one past goaltender Ville Husso, assisted by Quinton Byfield and Brandt Clarke. The lead lasted less than a minute because Olen Zellweger scored to tie up the game once again—Alex Killorn and Carlsson notched points on Zellweger’s goal.