Joel Edmundson scored the first two goals in his short Los Angeles Kings career to help the hosts beat the Utah Hockey Club 3-2 in a Saturday matinee.
The 31-year-old defenseman, who signed a four-year, $15.4 million deal with the Kings in July, enjoyed the first two-goal game of his career. He scored 29 goals in his first 536 regular-season games.
It ended up being a big day for Kings’ blueliners, who accounted for all three goals as Los Angeles won for the fourth time in its last five.
Kings goaltender Darcy Kuemper, playing for the first time in nearly two weeks, finished with 23 saves. Goalie Connor Ingram had 20 stops for Utah, which lost its third straight.
After a scoreless first period, Brandt Clarke put the Kings ahead with 12:09 left in the second on a power-play goal. His shot from beyond the faceoff circle hit off Utah defenseman Mikhail Sergachev’s stick, and that deflection allowed it to flutter past Ingram.
Adrian Kempe and Kevin Fiala assisted on the 21-year-old Clarke’s first goal of the season and third in 34 career games.
Edmundson doubled the Kings’ lead with 6:50 left in the period. His first goal came after Anze Kopitar won a scrum in front of the Utah net and hit the tape of the defenseman’s stick as he crashed the slot.
Kopitar earned his 1,220th career point, good for 45th on the NHL’s all-time scoring list. Quinton Byfield also notched an assist.
Clayton Keller finished a give-and-go with Sergachev at 4:05 to put Utah on the board. He beat Kuemper from the left faceoff circle. Nick Schmaltz also assisted on the goal.
Kempe and Clarke assisted on Edmundson’s second, which came 69 seconds into the third. He ripped a slapshot from the blueline that beat Ingram through traffic.
Utah would not go away, though. Logan Cooley, who scored 20 goals last season as a rookie with Arizona, got the visitors back within one after beating Kuemper in the crease midway through the third. Michael Kesselring and Dylan Guenther assisted on the 20-year-old’s first of the season.
–Field Level Media