OTTAWA, Ontario — 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.
“That was a good game from our side tonight,” Kempe said. “Obviously they came back at the end and it was tighter than we wanted it to be. But I think we’ve had some games this year where it’s been a one-goal game at the end of the second period and I think we’ve been doing a really good job of that.
“Every line is managing the puck really well.”
Dominik Kubalik and Josh Norris had goals for Ottawa, and Joonas Korpisalo finished with 36 saves against his former team.
“The mistakes we made that went in the net are just mistakes,” said Senators coach D.J. Smith, who coached his 300th game. “That’s bad reads or not enough poise or what have you … for us to win games, you can use short-handed (play) as an excuse, but that ain’t going to fix anything. We’re gonna have to be airtight defensively.”
PHOTOS: Grundstrom, Danault and Kopitar score as Kings build lead and hold on to beat Senators 3-2
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 to make it 3-0.
“We have a pretty good idea of how we need to play,” Kings coach Todd McLellan said. “Sometimes bounces don’t go your way, their second goal hits (Kopitar) in the face and a little bit of bad luck, but for the most part, I think we can play tight, uncomfortable games.”
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.
“I don’t think the game was a bad game by any means,” said Ottawa defenseman Travis Hamonic, who played in his 800th NHL game. “But those are the close ones that you do need, especially at this time of year because they all matter and it matters at the end.”
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.
Smith didn’t have an update after the game but said they look to be doubtful for the next few games.
“I think we would have liked to have been a little sharper in the second period and be a little bit more mature,” Norris said. “But we had a couple guys go down and guys had to step up and play some bigger minutes.”
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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