ANAHEIM — The Kings dispatched the Ducks in a second straight preseason meeting, prevailing 4-0 on Monday night at Honda Center, where new and new-ish faces excelled for the visitors.
Trade acquisition Tanner Jeannot contributed a goal and an assist to match the total of aspiring forward Akil Thomas, while free-agent signing Warren Foegele had a spectacular secondary assist to aid the cause of another trade pickup, the re-acquired Darcy Kuemper, who turned in a 23-save shutout. The Kings also got goals from Quinton Byfield and Vladislav Gavrikov.
Oscar Dansk, who was auditioning for an early-season backup role with John Gibson recovering from an appendectomy, stopped 21 shots for the Ducks.
The Kings padded their lead and concluded the scoring a mere 46 seconds into the third period with a power-play goal. After sending three players to the wall to win a board battle, the puck moved high to Jordan Spence, whose shot was deflected by Jack Studnicka, generating a rebound for Byfield, who scored off a snap shot.
After a competitive opening 20 minutes, the Kings carried the second period, stretching their lead to three with two goals in the first 5:10 of the middle frame.
Just 1:22 into the period, Foegele displayed some wizardry with a backhanded outlet pass from the defensive zone to the red line that sprung Kevin Fiala. He found a trailing Gavrikov, who passed the puck back to Fiala, only to get it back for a goal off the rush that elicited his patented “call me” celebration.
At the 5:10 mark, Jeannot ignited a scoring sequence with his physicality, hammering Sam Colangelo into the boards and dispossessing him of the puck. Jeannot slipped it to Phillip Danault, who pivoted below the goal line and made a silky pass from the left corner to the right post for Thomas, who had beat Nikita Nesterenko to the net, where he redirected the puck home as he fell to the ice.
The early going was defined by near misses as three of the first four Ducks shot attempts were sterling chances including a hit post by Nesterenko, a short-handed breakaway for Frank Vatrano and a superb opportunity for Sam Colangelo that Kuemper denied.
After Kuemper took a rare interference penalty for a goalie, the Kings nearly opened the scoring when Alex Turcotte’s shot dribbled through Dansk, only to teeter on the goal line for a couple of seconds before it was cleared to safety by Brian Dumoulin.
The lone goal of the period belonged to Jeannot, who first sent the puck high to Jacob Moverare and then secured inside position thanks to the blase defense of Trevor Zegras. He tipped Moverare’s shot attempt and then stuffed the rebound past Dansk, 12:58 into the match.
More to come on this story.
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