LOS ANGELES — The Kings built a three-goal lead in the first period and rode it to a victory in their home opener, squeaking past the winless San Jose Sharks, 3-2, on Thursday night at Crypto.com Arena.
Warren Foegele notched two goals after Jordan Spence kicked off the scoring, while Alex Laferriere collected two assists. David Rittich made his fifth straight start and earned his third win, stopping 24 shots.
The Sharks, who fell to 0-6-2, got two power-play goals from Mikael Granlund. Mackenzie Blackwood had 27 saves.
Just 4:31 into the match, Phillip Danault and Trevor Moore teamed up for a takeaway that the Kings (4-2-2) turned into a 1-0 edge. Moore hit the activated defenseman Spence for a searing wrist shot that beat Blackwood cleanly for Spence’s first goal of the season.
Foegele piled on two more goals, at the 8:47 and 11:36 marks, to establish a commanding lead. After arriving from the Edmonton Oilers in free agency, he scored his first goal as a King in Las Vegas on Tuesday night before adding Nos. 2 and 3 on Thursday.
First, his wraparound attempt was deflected skyward by the stick of William Eklund, but it landed near Foegele, who flicked a backhand shot off Blackwood’s left leg and into the net.
Then, he tipped in the shot of Brandt Clarke, who had retreated from the top of the left circle all the way to the blue line to get a better shooting angle.
In addition to the offensive fireworks, Andre Lee fought Luke Kunin. The rookie felled Kunin to win his first regular-season bout in the NHL.
After out-shooting San Jose by 10 shots on goal in the first period, the Kings produced something less than a stalemate through the final 40 minutes.
In the second frame, the Sharks clawed back a goal on the power play just past the midpoint of the game. It was Granlund taking sole possession of the team scoring lead when he glided from the left point into the faceoff circle to let fly with a shot that quickly entered and exited the net. Granlund scored the lone goal in San Jose’s loss to the Ducks on Tuesday and now has eight points in his past five games.
The Kings have given up three power-play goals in their past two games, and exacerbating that minor funk is a major one on the power play. They have not converted in their past five games and failed to cash in on 15 consecutive opportunities overall.
In the third period, the Sharks opened up their game looking to climb back into the contest but neither team mustered a goal. As the two-minute mark approached, San Jose stormed the Kings’ net but was unable to score, and there was a four-man scrum once the goal crease was cleared.
Though no penalty was called there, one was whistled on Kevin Fiala with 1:05 to play after he committed an ill-advised tripping penalty pursuing an empty-net goal.
Granlund converted again, giving him his fifth power-play point in his last three appearances, but it was just a bit too late for a comeback as the Kings hung on to win, 3-2.
More to come on this story.
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