OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Anze Kopitar scored midway through the second period to help Los Angeles build a three-goal lead and the Kings held on to beat the Ottawa Senators 3-2 on Thursday night.
Carl Grundstrom and Philip Danault also scored and Adrian Kempe had two assists for the Kings, who have won the first two games on their four-game trip and improved to 6-2-2 on the season. Cam Talbot, who spent last season in Ottawa, had 24 saves against his former team.
Dominik Kubalik and Josh Norris had goals for Ottawa, and Joonas Korpisalo finished with 36 saves against his former team.
The Kings opened the scoring with a power-play goal three minutes in when Danault tallied from in close.
Los Angeles doubled its lead at the 5-minute mark of the second period. Kempe picked up the puck at his own blue line, came down the wing and fed Grundstrom, who beat Korpisalo.
Kopitar was the beneficiary of Andreas Englund’s rebound for his fifth goal of the season at 8:55 of the middle period.
The Senators got on the board with Kubalik’s power-play goal with 21 seconds to go in the second.
Norris tipped Jacob Bernard-Docker’s shot at 4:09 of the third to pull Ottawa within one, but they couldn’t get the equalizer.
Ottawa played much of the game down two players after Ridly Greig appeared to jam his right leg early in the first period, and Mark Kastelic lost an edge, went down hard to the ice early in the second and was unable to put any weight on his right leg.
UP NEXT
Kings: At Philadelphia on Saturday night in the third of a four-game trip.
Senators: Host Tampa Bay on Saturday night to finish a two-game homestand.
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AP NHL: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL
