Kings don’t let a pregame surprise derail their game plan in win over Ducks

The way the Kings are playing, not much seems to phase them.

Only 20 minutes before the opening faceoff of Friday night’s game against rival Anaheim at Honda Center it was revealed that Kings coach Todd McLellan had entered COVID protocol and that assistant Trent Yawney would serve as acting head coach. Over the next three hours, from his vantage point behind the bench, he had to like what he saw.

The Kings broke the game open with three consecutive goals in the second period on their way to a 4-1 victory — their fourth win in a row and sixth straight on the road — to put more distance between themselves and the Ducks in the Pacific Division with 30 games left.

A playoff intensity was felt as the two franchises wrote the latest chapter in their “Freeway Faceoff” and with two valuable points up for grabs and two points separating the teams in the Pacific Division standings, the players were engaged.

Kings forward Anze Kopitar shoots in front of Ducks forward Jakob Silfverberg during the third period.

(Jae C. Hong / Associated Press)

Figure skater Nathan Chen, who captured the Olympic gold medal in Beijing 15 days earlier and trains up the road at Irvine’s Great Ice Park (owned by Ducks owners Henry and Susan Samueli) energized the sellout crowd by dropping the ceremonial first puck.

The Kings struck first at the 7:50 mark of the first period when Quinton Byfield broke down right wing and centered to Carl Grundstrom, whose one-timer in the slot beat John Gibson. It was the right winger’s seventh goal of the season and 18th of his career.

Los Angeles doubled its lead early in the second when Adrian Kempe fired home a feed from Anze Kopitar. Less than seven minutes later, Kopitar tallied his 15th goal of the season when his quick wrist shot on the power play fooled Gibson. Kempe scored his 25th goal of the season at 12:51 of the period to make it 4-0 at which point Gibson was replaced in net by Anthony Stolarz.

Early in the third period, Troy Terry finally gave the home fans something to cheer about when he scored past Kings goalie Jonathan Quick for his 27th goal of the season. The Ducks continued to apply pressure for the next five minutes but Quick was unfazed by seeing shutout bid ended.

The Ducks entered the night having won consecutive games over divisional opponents. The Kings arrived as one of the hottest teams in the league, having posted back-to-back victories over Arizona and an overtime win in Las Vegas. The Kings own a 10-game road point streak (8-0-2) and are one of only a few teams to hold a better record on the road (15-6-5) than on home ice (13-11-2).

The Kings nearly added an empty-net goal with Anaheim on the power play but up two men with Stolarz pulled in the final minute. Quick stopped 25 shots

Ducks forward Rickard Rakell, left, battles Kings defenseman Matt Roy during the second period.

(Jae C. Hong / Associated Press)

Friday’s game was the teams’ first since the Ducks prevailed in a shootout Nov. 30 at what was then still known as Staples Center. The teams will conclude their four-game series with a home-and-home set in the season’s final weeks, April 19 at Honda Center and April 23 at Crypto.com Arena.

Anaheim leads the all-time regular season series 77-57-11-16 since their first meeting in 1993. The teams have met only once in the postseason with the Kings prevailing in seven games in the 2014 Western Conference semifinals on their way to their second Stanley Cup in three years.