Goaltender David Rittich missed a shutout by less than 90 seconds, but the Los Angeles Kings were still able to easily beat the Detroit Red Wings 4-1 in Los Angeles on Saturday night.
Adrian Kempe scored two goals for the second consecutive game and defenseman Mikey Anderson and Tanner Jeannot also scored for the Kings, who had lost their previous two games. Rittich had to stop just 17 shots.
Dylan Larkin got the Red Wings’ goal with 1:27 left and Cam Talbot made 37 saves for Detroit against his former team. Talbot signed as a free agent with the Red Wings after spending last season with Los Angeles.
Detroit defenseman Simon Edvinsson did not play because of a knee injury. He left Friday night’s 6-4 loss at Anaheim after one shift in the third period after using his right knee to block a shot by the Ducks’ Frank Vatrano in the second period. Edvinsson plays on Detroit’s top defense pairing along with Moritz Seider. Ben Chiarot was paired with Seider on Saturday.
The Kings scored twice in 20 seconds to take a 2-0 lead late in the first period.
The Red Wings allowed two goals in 38 seconds in the third period Friday in their loss to the Ducks.
Anderson put a shot in off Talbot from a bad angle along the goal line to Talbot’s right with 1:53 left in the opening period for his third goal, and Jeannot tapped in a cross-crease pass into the empty side of the net off a 2-on-1 rush with 1:33 in the first. It was Jeannot’s second goal. It was his first game in returning from a three-game suspension for a high hit on the Vancouver Canucks’ Brock Boeser on Nov. 10.
Kempe made it 3-0 just 15 seconds into the third period. On a play that began with a defensive zone faceoff, Kempe scored on a breakaway.
Larkin got his 10th goal after Talbot was pulled for the extra attacker.
Kempe’s second goal was an empty-netter with 49 seconds left. He has nine goals for the season.
–Field Level Media