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Goalie Carter George deflects a shot over the goal by Tim Washe, left, in the Golden State Rookie Faceoff in Irvine on Sunday, Sept. 14, 2025. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)
The Kings’ Kenny Connors, left, and the Ducks’ Stian Solberg race to get to the puck during the Golden State Rookie Faceoff in Irvine on Sunday, Sept. 14, 2025. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)
The Kings’ goalie Carter George blocks a shot by the Ducks during the Golden State Rookie Faceoff in Irvine on Sunday, Sept. 14, 2025. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)
The Kings’ Kenny Connors, center, is congratulated by teammates after scoring a goal against the Ducks at the Golden State Rookie Faceoff in Irvine on Sunday, Sept. 14, 2025. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)
The Ducks’ Darels Uljanskis, left, falls as the Kings’ Ryan O’Hara tries to get to the action during the Golden State Rookie Faceoff in Irvine on Sunday, Sept. 14, 2025. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)
The Kings’ Henry Brzustewicz, left, and the Ducks’ Maxim Masse try to get control of the puck up against the boards during the Golden State Rookie Faceoff in Irvine on Sunday, Sept. 14, 2025. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)
The Kings’ Liam Greentree, right, moves the puck away from the Ducks’ Tim Washe during the Golden State Rookie Faceoff in Irvine on Sunday, Sept. 14, 2025. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)
The Duck’s Stian Solberg, left, skates around the Kings’ Jack Hughes during the Golden State Rookie Faceoff in Irvine on Sunday, Sept. 14, 2025. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)
The Ducks’ Tarin Smith slaps the puck away from the Kings’ Jared Wright (53) in the Golden State Rookie Faceoff in Irvine on Sunday, Sept. 14, 2025. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)
The Ducks’ Yegor Sidorov, left, hits the puck toward a teammate as the Kings’ Kenny Connors moves in during the Golden State Rookie Faceoff in Irvine on Sunday, Sept. 14, 2025. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)
The Ducks’ goalie Tomas Suchanek gets in front of a shot by the Kings during the Golden State Rookie Faceoff in Irvine on Sunday, Sept. 14, 2025. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)
The Duck’s Konnor Smith, right, and the Kings’ Nate Corbet land some punches at the Golden State Rookie Faceoff in Irvine on Sunday, Sept. 14, 2025. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)
The Kings’ Jakub Dvorak, left, deflects a shot by the Ducks’ Emile Guite during the Golden State Rookie Faceoff in Irvine on Sunday, Sept. 14, 2025. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)
The Ducks’ Jaxsen Wiebe, right, and the Kings’ Jared Wright fight it out during the Golden State Rookie Faceoff in Irvine on Sunday, Sept. 14, 2025. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)
The Ducks’ Owen Lindmark, right, slaps the puck away from the Kings’ Jimmy Lombardi, center, during the Golden State Rookie Faceoff in Irvine on Sunday, Sept. 14, 2025. The Ducks’ Noah Read is at left. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)
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Goalie Carter George deflects a shot over the goal by Tim Washe, left, in the Golden State Rookie Faceoff in Irvine on Sunday, Sept. 14, 2025. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)
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IRVINE — Behind textbook goaltending and a highly unconventional hat trick, the Kings got the better of the Ducks at the finale of the Golden State Rookie Faceoff on Sunday, 4-1, at Great Park Ice.
Carter George halted the first 28 shots he faced and 35 of 36 overall, while Kenny Connors sent few if any fedoras flying despite a capacity crowd on hand and his scoring three goals. That might have been because few fans appeared to realize he scored a hat trick. After depositing a power-play goal in the second period, his next marker was an own goal by Ducks goalie Tomas Suchanek credited to Connors for his attenuated touch of the puck. Connors added a last-gasp empty-netter to complete the feat.
“I’ve never seen that in a game before, so I don’t know,” said Connors of his unorthodox trio of tallies.
A more familiar sight was George’s dominance, as he tracked the puck meticulously and smothered nearly every shot. While Suchanek shared duties with Michael McIvor, George went the distance. Perhaps his most impressive stretch came in the middle frame, after Kings winger Koehn Ziemmer opened the scoring and the Ducks pressed hard for an equalizer at even strength and then during a power play.
“For sure [it was a turning point], after you get the first one, you’ve got to make the first save,” George said. “You’ve got to slow their momentum down, kind of turn the tables and get momentum back on our side. We had a huge kill, and after that, it turned around.”
The Ducks would instead have to wait until the third period for their lone goal, scored by NCAA champion Tim Washe. It came well after they’d fallen down 3-0 behind Suchanek’s own goal.
Last season, Suchanek appeared poised to seize the net for the San Diego Gulls, the Ducks’ top minor-league affiliate, but major knee surgery cost him his campaign. On Sunday, he intended to reverse the puck behind his own net and instead fired it directly into the nylon.
“I know what you’re going to think about for the next few days. But just forget it,” San Diego coach Matt McIlvane said he told Suchanek. “Those are the things that happen when you miss (several) months of hockey. He played a solid hockey game. That [mistake] is an easy fix.”
The relatively low-scoring contest — it was a 2-1 game in terms of tallies with a goalie in the net — bucked a trend that had dominated the weekend. Both the Ducks and Kings had lost their matches to the San Jose Sharks, with the sides combining for 22 goals in those two games. The Ducks fell 6-3 to a star-studded group of Sharks prospects on Friday, while the Kings flushed a 4-0 lead to faceplant into an 8-5 defeat on Saturday.
“Consistency was way better, obviously,” said new Ontario Reign coach Andrew Lord, who guided the Kings’ prospects. “We stayed the course and, obviously, exceptional goaltending was a big key.”
There were also a pair of fights in the tilt, including a spirited clash of No. 63s when Konnor Smith and Nate Corbet squared off in an exchange of big swings that Smith took decisively.
In all, iterations of the Ducks and Kings will meet nine times across this event as well as the preseason and regular season, when they will battle four times apiece.
While George, who is just two years removed from being drafted in the second round by the Kings, is unlikely to participate in any of the regular-season games, he said his second training camp with the Kings could advance him toward his goal of sticking in the NHL.
“I just want to prove myself at main camp,” George said. “I want to establish myself by going into those games and giving the chance to win, whether it’s a training camp or a preseason game, I just want to go in and do my best.”
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