NEW YORK -- Drew Doughty had three points, including his first goal of the season, and the Los Angeles Kings won for the third time in four games, 6-3 against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Monday.
It was Doughty's first three-point game since Feb. 22, 2025.
"Yeah, that was nice," Doughty said."I haven't had a night like that in a minute."
Artemi Panarin scored his team-leading seventh goal and had an assist, and Taylor Ward, Mikey Anderson and Joel Edmundson also got their first of the season. Edmundson added an assist and Alex Laferriere had two.
Darcy Kuemper made 23 saves.
The Kings (3-5-2) improved to 3-1-0 on their five-game road trip that concludes in Chicago on Tuesday.
"It's a big game coming up," Kings coach Peter Laviolette said."You know, 4-1 on the road trip and a 10-game segment, one point under .500 for the start that we had, there's a lot to play for tomorrow and I think the guys know that."
The Rangers (7-6-1) lost their third straight game and for the first time at home (6-1-0). They played from behind at home for the first time this season after allowing two goals in the first five minutes.
"I just didn't think from a mindset standpoint, I don't think we had enough guys that were ready to play from the drop of the puck," Rangers coach Mike Sullivan said. "We've got to fix that fast.
The onus is on each individual to get himself ready for when the puck drops. It wasn't everybody, but we just didn't have enough.
James Reimer made his first start after signing a one-year contract with the Rangers on Sunday. But the 38-year-old goalie allowed three goals on eight shots in the first period and was replaced by Dylan Garand to start the second.
Garand, appearing in his ninth consecutive game, made 15 saves. Adam Fox scored his first goal of the season in his 500th NHL game.
Tye Kartye had a goal and an assist.
"For'Reims' to come in the way he has in short order and go into a game like this, it's not an easy challenge, it's a tough challenge," Sullivan said. "I just felt like the way the game is going, maybe'Reims' needs a little bit more preparation before we put him in that circumstance.
I put him in a tough spot and that's on me.
Ward, playing in his first game of the season, gave the Kings a 1-0 lead at 1:15 of the first period. He got behind the Rangers' defense, took a pass in stride from Doughty and beat Reimer on a breakaway.
"It was just a great breakout by (Trevor Moore) and Drew," Ward said."I just tried to get my feet moving up ice and Drew made a great pass, but it just starts from a good D-zone breakout."
Brandt Clarke cashed in on a delayed penalty at 4:52, scoring from the left post to give the Kings a 2-0 lead. Joel Armia started the play when he put a sharp-angle centering pass cross-crease, which was deflected in by Clarke after a quick touch in front by Scott Laughton.
"The reason we were behind is because we weren't playing our style," Rangers forward J.T. Miller said.
"We weren't playing Rangers' hockey and that has been the case lately. It's an issue we need to fix.
Miller had the puck go in off his right skate at 13:01 to cut Los Angeles' lead to 2-1, but Doughty scored on a one-timer from the point at 17:32 to extend the lead to 3-1.
"We responded with a goal and that's what we've got to do," Doughty said. "If we give up a goal, we can't deflate, we need to go and get the next one.
That's what the best teams I've ever played against, or on, do. If we can learn that, we'll go far.
The Kings built on it early in the second period.
Panarin greeted Garand with a power-play goal on a seeing-eye shot from the left face-off circle to give the Kings a 4-1 lead 90 seconds into the second period.
Anderson got the puck off the face-off at the left dot in the offensive zone and put a slap shot past Garand to make it 5-1 at 6:54.
"We played the game fast and we made good decisions," Laviolette said,"and we attacked."
Fox scored from the point on the power play to make it 5-2 at 13:05 of the second.
Kartye cut the Kings' lead to 5-3 with a 6-on-5 goal at 16:08 of the third period, but Edmundson scored into the empty net at 16:37 for the 6-3 final.
All 18 of the Kings' skaters were on the ice for at least one goal Los Angeles goal.
"Guys are happy with (the road trip) so far," Anderson said,"and we can make it a great trip tomorrow."
NOTES: The Kings scored on their first two shots of the game for the first time since Feb. 7, 2021, and their fastest two goals to begin a road game since Dec.
6, 2022 (2:15 at the Ottawa Senators).
Doughty moved past Dustin Brown and into seventh place on the Kings' all-time scoring list with 713 points. Brown had 712.
It was Doughty's 17th career three-point game, tying Rob Blake for the second most games with at least three points by a defenseman in Kings' history. Steve Duchesne leads with 19.
