NHL Update – Los Angeles Kings defeat Anaheim Ducks 8-3
The 55th game of the NHL pre-season was played between the Los Angeles Kings and the Anaheim Ducks at the Staples Centre, the home of the Los Angeles Kings with 13,000 spectators in attendance.
The Los Angeles Kings dominated proceedings as soon as the match started. The Kings came up with a fantastic attempt from 40 feet through alternate captain Anze Kopitar only to be stopped by Anaheim goal keeper. With consistent attacks, the Los Angeles Kings
were finally able to breakthrough in the 8th minute through their captain Dustin Brown.
Play resumed once again and the Anaheim Ducks lost possession in the opposition’s half. This led to a quick counter-attack by Wayne Simmonds who finished the move with a classic 11 feet backhand. With just 9 minutes into the match, the Los Angeles Kings
had already managed to establish a 2 goal lead. The Anaheim Ducks showed a glimpse of how they won the 2007 Stanley Cup with quick and pin point passing.
This was not to last for long as the Los Angeles Kings had other things on their mind. They were pressing forward and looking to score on every goal attempt they made. But it was not until the 13th minute when they scored once again through Ryan
Smyth by a 14 feet backhand. This further strengthened their lead to 3-0. The Anaheim Ducks, in search of a consolation goal for the period, made one final play. This ended up being disastrous for the Ducks as Johnson scored on a counter-attack in the 18th
minute. The first period ended with the score at 4-0 in favour of the Los Angeles Kings.
The Kings came up with 23 shots during the period, converting on four occasions. The Anaheim Ducks managed just to make only 7 attempts on goal – all remaining unsuccessful.
The second period saw the Anaheim Ducks make some good plays and attempts on goal. From the start of the period, their intention was to score which they managed to do in the 4th minute through veteran speedster Todd Marchant’s 7 feet wrap off.
But the Los Angeles Lakers dominated the period from then on in until the 13th minute when they scored. Michal Handzus pulled off a stunner when he scored from close range through some excellent wrist work. The rest of the period was dominated by
the Anaheim Ducks as they looked to pull back the 5-1 deficit.
However, they were unsuccessful in doing so and the period ended on the same score. At the end of the period, the Anaheim Duck managed to come up with 17 shots, converting none.
As the third period kicked off, the Los Angeles Kings pressed forward in a bid to score. As a result, they were able to score twice in the 9th minute to take surge ahead with a 7-1 lead. The first goal came through Andrei Loktionov from 18 feet.
Meanwhile, the second came as a result of Kyle Clifford’s 6 feet tip-in. The 6 goal advantage resulted in the Los Angeles Kings playing the rest of the game with relative ease. Despite their callous attitude, they managed to score once again in the 14th
minute after dominating the game for almost 7 minutes. The goal came from a 52 feet extravagant shot by Jack Johnson. The score was 8-1 in favour of the Los Angeles Kings.
The Los Angeles Kings relaxed and didn’t push for more goals with just 6 minutes left on the clock. However, the Anaheim Ducks were aiming to get some consolation as they scored twice in the 18th minute through Dan Sexton and then from a 6 feet
tip-in by Todd Marchant.
The Los Angeles Kings won the match 8-3, completing a dominating performance.
At the end of the match, Los Angeles Kings Head Coach Terry Murray expressed that he was glad that his team won in an excellent manner against one of the big teams in the league. Adding to this, he said that he was hoping that they carry this form into the
regular season.
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