Adrian Kempe scored his team-leading 10th goal of the season and the Los Angeles Kings held off a late flurry to defeat the visiting Seattle Kraken 2-1 Saturday afternoon in the first meeting of the season between the Pacific Division rivals.
Quinton Byfield also scored and Anze Kopitar added two assists for the Kings, who won for just the second time in their past five games. Goaltender David Rittich made 19 saves.
Brandon Montour scored for the Kraken and Joey Daccord stopped 19 of 21 shots. It was just the second loss in the past seven games for the Kraken, though they have lost their past five road contests while being outscored 17-5.
Montour scored on a slap shot from the left point at 18:26 of the third period with Daccord pulled for an extra attacker to spoil Rittich’s shutout bid.
Seattle pressed for another goal in the final minute but was unable to get the equalizer, with Daniel Sprong’s shot from the blue line going into the net just after the final horn sounded.
Seattle outshot the Kings 5-4 in a scoreless first period.
Los Angeles opened the scoring at 4:19 of the second. Alex Turcotte skated the puck around the back of the Seattle net and came back out to the right-wing corner before finding Kempe in the high slot. Kempe deked past one defender and put a wrist shot into the upper left corner of the net.
The Kings doubled their advantage on the power play at 6:03 of the period. Kopitar kept the puck in the offensive zone at the right point and fed Byfield in the corner. Byfield sent a pass to Kevin Fiala in the high slot and Fiala immediately fed Byfield for a one-timer from the bottom of the right faceoff circle that snuck inside the near post as Daccord tried to close down the shooting angle.
Kraken forward Shane Wright, the No. 4 overall selection in the 2022 draft, was a healthy scratch for the third consecutive game. Wright is pointless since Oct. 17.
–Field Level Media
