Drew Doughty produced three points to help the Los Angeles Kings defeat the New York Rangers 6-3 at Madison Square Garden on Monday.
Taylor Ward opened the scoring for the Kings at 1:15 of the first period with a snap shot for his first goal of the season, assisted by Doughty and Trevor Moore. Brandt Clarke widened the lead to 2-0 at 4:52 when he tipped in a pass from Scott Laughton and Joel Armia. New York answered at 13:01 as J.T. Miller deflected in a puck off a feed from Tye Kartye. Los Angeles reclaimed a two-goal cushion at 17:32 when Doughty scored his first goal of the season on a snap shot set up by Joel Edmundson and Artemi Panarin.
Panarin extended the advantage to 4-1 at 1:30 of the second period with a power-play snap shot assisted by Erik Gustafsson and Alex Laferriere. Mikey Anderson added his first goal of the season at 6:54 on a slap shot set up by Corey Perry to make it 5-1. Adam Fox answered for New York on the power play at 13:05 with his first goal of the campaign, assisted by Pavel Dorofeyev and Alexis Lafrenière. Kartye cut the margin to 5-3 with a snap shot at 16:08 of the third period, but Edmundson sealed the outcome with an empty-net wrist shot at 16:37.
Darcy Kuemper stopped 23 of 26 shots to earn the win for Los Angeles. New York starter James Reimer allowed three goals on eight shots in the opening period, and Dylan Garand took the loss after stopping 15 of 17 relief attempts over the final two periods. The Kings converted 1 of 3 opportunities on the power play, while the Rangers scored on their lone power-play chance.
The victory improved the Kings to a 3-5-2 regular-season record, while the Rangers dropped to 7-6-1 and extended their winless streak to three games.
The Kings visit the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday, while the Rangers host the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday.
