For Los Angeles Kings goaltender Jack Campbell, playing in T-Mobile Arena is all the motivation he needs.
“You don’t have to get amped — you’re in Vegas. It’s showtime,” Campbell said after stopping 44 of 46 shots in the Kings’ 5-2 upset win over the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday night.
Campbell, whose first career win came in Vegas in 2018, was again outstanding on the net. Adrian Kempe scored twice as the Kings, sitting at the bottom of the Western Conference, jumped out to an early lead and held off the Golden Knights.
“It’s pretty fun to play here, with the atmosphere, the fans, and the team they’ve got,” Campbell said. “You don’t need to psyche yourself up; it’s just a fun place to play.”
The Kings set the tone early, netting four first-period goals before Campbell shut down the Golden Knights’ attempts to claw back. Vegas, co-leaders of the Pacific Division, outshot the Kings 36-5 in the last two periods, but it wasn’t enough to erase the deficit.
“He just plays well here for some reason,” Kings coach Todd McLellan said of Campbell. “To come out of this building with a win, you know your goaltender played well because that’s a quality team over there.”
The Golden Knights have struggled defensively, allowing four or more goals in seven of their last ten games. After a sluggish start, they were down 3-0 for the third straight game.
Alec Martinez, Ben Hutton, and Tyler Toffoli also scored for the Kings, while Reilly Smith and Max Pacioretty tallied goals for Vegas. Malcolm Subban made 18 saves for the Golden Knights but fell to 6-3-1 in his last 10 starts.
“It’s the same old story,” said Vegas coach Gerard Gallant. “No excuse — we can’t be ready. We were down 3-0, 4-0. The first period was awful. It’s embarrassing.”
Martinez opened the scoring for Los Angeles after intercepting a failed clearing attempt from Deryk Engelland and firing a shot past Subban. Hutton quickly followed with a slap shot to make it 2-0. Toffoli added a third goal before Kempe capped the period with a rebound goal just before the buzzer, giving the Kings a commanding 4-0 lead.
The Kings’ four-goal outburst tied the most goals scored in a period against Vegas this season, matching Philadelphia’s performance on October 21.
Though Vegas cut the lead in half with two second-period goals, they couldn’t get past Campbell, who was outstanding in net throughout the game. Kempe added his second goal in the final seconds to seal the victory.
“We played really well in the first,” Campbell said. “When we score first, how well we can play is amazing. They made a big push, but we showed a lot of character coming back in the third.”
Los Angeles’ win and Anaheim’s loss to Dallas allowed the Kings to climb out of last place in the Western Conference. After a tough start to the season, the Kings have now gone 7-6-2 in their last 15 games.
Game Notes:
- Vegas LW Jonathan Marchessault missed his third straight game with a lower-body injury.
- Kings C Anze Kopitar leads all players in points against Vegas with 12 points (eight assists) in 12 games.
- Kings D Drew Doughty is two games away from his 900th career appearance.
Up Next:
- Kings: Visit Carolina on Saturday.
- Golden Knights: Host Columbus on Saturday.