LOS ANGELES –– It was Lakers night at Crypto.com Arena on Saturday, and the Kings displayed some serious “Mamba mentality” in a 4-0 victory over the Detroit Red Wings.
The Kings tied a franchise record for shots on goal in a period with 27 in the first 20 minutes. They also got first-period goals, fittingly, from No. 8 Drew Doughty and No. 24 Phillip Danault, who wore the two numbers that Kobe Bryant wore in his Lakers career.
Winger Adrian Kempe scored shorthanded and forward Trevor Moore added an empty-net goal. Winger Dustin Brown had two assists to extend his point streak to three games. Cal Petersen made 21 saves for his second career shutout and his first since Nov. 19, 2018.
The Kings’ previous 27-shot period came on Jan. 7, 2010, when they also hosted Detroit, which won the game anyway behind 51 saves from Jimmy Howard. The 27-2 shot disparity was among the largest in NHL history for a single period.
Detroit’s current goalie, Alex Nedeljkovic, was busy Saturday and came up with 38 saves.
The Kings had no shortage of near misses in the first period, including a goal disallowed on video review and a brilliant play by Sean Durzi that nearly turned into a rebound goal for Lias Andersson.
Just 90 seconds into the match the Kings appeared to open the scoring on a one-timer by Lemieux that hit the post, one of Nedeljkovic’s skates and then the other before defenseman Tobias Bjornfot attempted to stuff it into the net for good measure. But a video review determined that the puck did not fully cross the goal line at any point during the play.
But unlike in recent games where they carried possession with little to show for it, this time the Kings received results from their efforts. They struck twice in the span of less than three minutes.
First, aggressive play and quick puck movement between four forwards got them a goal just after their first power play expired. Trevor Moore hit Brown with a pass, Brown sent the puck across the crease for Arthur Kalyiev for a low shot that created a rebound that turned into Danault’s sixth goal of the season. Danault fought Detroit captain Dylan Larkin, who cross-checked Danault, after the faceoff that followed the Kings’ second goal. It was Danault’s third career fight and the first this season by a Kings player other than winger Brendan Lemieux.
Next, they would extend their lead off the rush. Brown moved the puck to Rasmus Kupari, who slammed on the brakes and turned the puck back to Doughty for a one-timer that zipped through traffic for his fourth goal of the campaign.
The Kings threatened numerous times in the second period and had a goal disallowed due a player clearly positioned offside. Defenseman Mikey Anderson rocked Detroit forward Robby Fabbri with one of his five* hits of the evening.
They would pad their lead by way of a shorthanded goal with 3:37 left in the frame. Defenseman Matt Roy backhanded a rolling puck out of the Kings’ zone to Kempe, who dashed ahead and snapped a wrist shot to the far side for his team-leading 15th goal.
In the third period, more physical play punctuated a period in which Detroit showed some desperation. That included pulling their goalie with about four minutes to play, leading to Moore’s uncontested empty-net goal with 2:31 remaining.
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