Alex Laferriere notched his first NHL hat trick to lead the Los Angeles Kings to a 6-1 victory against the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday at Crypto.com Arena. The Kings exploded for four first-period goals, snapping a scoring slump. Anze Kopitar recorded three assists in the win.
The Los Angeles Kings ended a seven-game stretch of low scoring with a dominant 6-1 win over the Anaheim Ducks on December 27, 2025, at Crypto.com Arena. Alex Laferriere stole the show, scoring three goals for his first NHL hat trick, the first by a Kings player at home against Anaheim and the first at home since the 2023-24 season.
Los Angeles jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first period. Drew Doughty opened the scoring at 3:03 with a backhand on a 2-on-1 rush assisted by Quinton Byfield. Trevor Moore made it 2-0 just 53 seconds later when a centering pass deflected off his skate into the net. Laferriere extended the advantage to 3-0 at 10:21 with a one-timer from the slot off a feed from Adrian Kempe. Byfield added a power-play goal at 19:02, redirecting Brandt Clarke's shot for his first tally in 18 games.
Anaheim's Mason McTavish cut the deficit to 4-1 at 10:02 of the second period with a power-play goal, stuffing in Beckett Sennecke's shot from behind the net. But Laferriere restored the four-goal lead at 4:24 of the third on a breakaway backhand after chasing down Brian Dumoulin's stretch pass. He completed the hat trick at 13:15 with a long one-timer through traffic.
Kings goaltender Anton Forsberg made 24 saves, while Ducks netminder Lukas Dostal also stopped 24 shots. The win improved Los Angeles to 16-12-9, ending a 1-4-2 skid where they scored two or fewer goals each time. Anaheim fell to 21-15-2, losing six of their last eight.
"He was feeling it tonight," Kopitar said of Laferriere, who had nine shots in a prior loss to Seattle and five in this game. Kings coach Jim Hiller praised the line of Laferriere, Kopitar and Kempe: "They complement each other pretty well." Ducks coach Joel Quenneville noted, "It was very evident they were the hungrier team, and they set the tone right from the get-go."
Laferriere's performance came after a strong December where he led the Kings in scoring chances despite offensive struggles. Kopitar reached 850 career assists, tying Bobby Clarke for 28th all-time, and notched his 80th three-point game for the franchise.
