Alex Laferriere made quite the entrance into the NHL — and his family was there to see it all.
A third-round pick of the Kings in the 2020 draft, Laferriere got his name on the stat sheet in his debut with a rousing fight against the Avalanche on Tuesday night in Los Angeles during a 5-2 loss.
The chaotic sequence in the second period began when the Kings’ Pierre-Luc Dubois stuck out his knee to take out Colorado’s Fredrik Olofsson, drawing a tripping penalty in the process.
Following the collision, a number of players from both teams came together, and eventually, Laferriere got into a heated scrap with Logan O’Connor.
Both players got in a few big punches with their right hands, but before long, the rookie landed a few more and then slammed down O’Connor to the ice to end the kerfuffle.
And as Laferriere — a Chatham, New Jersey native — headed to the penalty box, he got a huge ovation from his family inside Crypto.com Arena.
“The family loves it,” TNT play-by-play man Brendan Burke said on the broadcast. “Welcome to the National Hockey League, Alex Laferriere.”
“I told you he was a good athlete, I didn’t know he was a wrastler,” analyst Darren Pang said jokingly.
Laferriere, 21, attended Harvard for two years and racked up 73 points for the Crimson.
In the NCAA, fighting is essentially banned, as a player not only gets a five-minute major for fighting but also receives a game misconduct and a one-game suspension for dropping the gloves.
Even considering that, Laferriere looked pretty experienced in the fighting area.
As for the rest of the game, the rookie recorded four shots on goal and was also nabbed for hooking penalty.
Before the season started, Kings head coach Todd McLellan praised the young forward.
“We’ve been around him a little bit now,” McLellan said, according to The Athletic. “We were talking about his maturity level. There are 18-, 19-year-olds that come to training camp and they’re trying to make the team. And then there’s some college players. Alex is a little bit older and you can tell. He’s got that going for him.
“The games that he’s played and the practices he’s been involved in, he’s got a pretty good speed element. Anticipates well. So that together with good skating skills gets him into plays and spots that he needs to be in.”
Read more
