The LA Kings improved to 3-1-0 on their current roadtrip as they skated to a 3-2 overtime victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday afternoon at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
The Kings opened the scoring just over three minutes in, turning an offensive-zone faceoff win into the game’s first goal. Forward Alex Laferriere won the draw cleanly, back to defenseman Drew Doughty at the point. Doughty’s shot was bounced around in front, with both Laferriere and forward Corey Perry getting a touch on it, before forward Adrian Kempe put it home to extend his point streak to six games with a 1-0 Los Angeles lead.
Kempe doubled his output just over four minutes later as he made no mistake from the slot in burying his 20th goal of the season. After Kempe sent the puck below the goal line, Laferriere poked it free to Perry, who quickly fed Kempe in the middle of the ice, where he buried his second goal of the afternoon of the period to put the Kings ahead 2-0. It marked the second multi-goal game of the season for Kempe and the second multi-assist game for Perry.
Less than 60 seconds into the second period, Philadelphia got on the board to pull back within a goal. Skating on its first power play of the game, carried over after a Drew Doughty cross-checking minor late in the first period, forward Bobby Brink found forward Trevor Zegras in front on a nice passing play, finished from close range by Zegras, his 20th goal of the season, to make it a 2-1 hockey game.
The Flyers added a goal inside the first minute of the third period to tie the game at two just 25 seconds into the final frame. Philadelphia worked the puck from low to high, as forward Nikita Grebenkin fed the puck to defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen at the point. Ristolainen’s shot looked like it deflected off Kings forward Anze Kopitar and in, past goaltender Darcy Kuemper, to tie the score 2-2.
After neither team was able to win the game in regulation, forward Quinton Byfield won the game in overtime with a heck of a shot off the rush. Byfield took a feed from Kempe and drove down the right wing, attacking off the rush. Byfield kept the puck himself and fired past Philadelphia goaltender Dan Vladar on the blocker side, his tenth goal of the season, securing the two points for the Kings.
Hear from Byfield, forward Anze Kopitar and Head Coach Jim Hiller after tonight’s victory.
Anze Kopitar
Quinton Byfield
On his takeaways from tonight’s win over the Flyers
We started the game out pretty strong. Laf, Juice and Perrs got two big goals to start it off and then we kind of let them back in the game. Kudos to them, they’re a really good team. Then, we showed our resilience there, kind of took the game back and finally won in overtime.
On what he saw from the team after 2-0 went to 2-2
We just had to calm down. In the first, for most of that period, we were on them and then they kind of took it back to us. So, we just had to take a step back, calm down, start making plays again, get it behind them, just simplify it. That kind of gave us what we needed to come back and eventually win.
On what he saw on the overtime game-winning goal
I saw Dewey make a good pass to Juice and I was kind of just maintaining my speed there. Then, I was thinking, just shot all the way and luckily it went in this time.
On a strong showing from goaltender Darcy Kuemper in getting the two points
Kuemps has been, since he’s got here, he’s been amazing for us. It allows you to be a little bit more offensive, making some plays because you know you have a guy that you trust back there, who is so good for you all the time. Kuemps was just making those big saves at the key moments again. We trust him so much.
Jim Hiller
On his thoughts after today’s win in Philadelphia
I thought probably the most important goal of the night was the one that was offside. We started really well, if we could have got that one or kept that one on the board I feel like we’d have been in good shape. You don’t do that, they get some momentum and then had to hang on.
On how the momentum of the game changed as it progressed
We started really well, so it’s a blessing and a curse sometimes, because you think, oh, this is going to be easy, what a good night. Then you get on your heels, they start pushing and of course, they’re going to push. In the end, it was probably better that they scored, got even, because it forced us to get moving a little bit more again, which I thought we responded good at that point. Then, just a really nice play for the overtime goal.
On Quinton Byfield’s game-winning goal
You’d say to him, why don’t you always have that shot first mindset? We saw his last couple goals that I can remember, the short side versus Anaheim, same spot this time, he hits the far side. Just really, really good shots. He had one coming down the pipe in the second period, I think he went high and wide. Nice finish, nice goal. Shoot the puck, kid.
On two goals from Adrian Kempe and extending his point streak to six games
I thought that line has been dangerous, I know you mentioned Juice has scored, there’s been some power plays in there too, but I thought they were dangerous, they have been. That’s why, in bringing Kopi back, we didn’t want to disrupt that line, get Kopi a chance to get his legs under him a little bit. I think Perry and Laferriere compliment him well. Laf is skating through the middle, Perrs strong in the o-zone, found him on that on the second goal. Good to see.
On swapping Andrei Kuzmenko and Taylor Ward midway through the game
I didn’t like the way that one line with Byfield, Kuzmenko and Fiala. It wasn’t anything to do with our fourth line, it was more I did not like the line, how they were playing, the style of the game. These guys were strong, winning puck battles, so we just thought we’d try to balance it just a little bit. I thought both lines were probably better in the end.
Notes –
– Forward Adrian Kempe (2-1=3) scored his 19th and 20th goals of the campaign in today’s opening period, surpassing Kevin Fiala (18 G) for the most on the team this season, before providing the primary set-up on the overtime game-winner to notch his 24th assist of the year. Kempe’s team-leading ninth multi-point effort of the campaign secures his fifth consecutive 20-goal season, dating to 2021-22, tied for the seventh-longest streak in franchise history, per NHL PR.
– Tonight’s pair of strikes marked Kempe’s 31st career multi-goal game while factoring into the 101st multi-point performance of his career, breaking a tie with Ziggy Palffy (100 GP) for sole possession of the 14th-most such games in franchise history. With his team-leading 42nd, 43rd, and 44th points of the campaign (20-24=44), Kempe extends his point streak to a sixth game (5-2=7), dating back to Saturday, Jan. 17, in Anaheim. This is Kempe’s sixth-ever point streak of at least six games in length, tied for the fourth longest streak of his career behind a nine-game run (6-7=13) from Oct. 24 – Nov. 11, 2023. By recording the Kings’ fourth three-point effort of the year, Kempe leaves the City of Brotherly Love with 10 goals and 14 points (10-4=14) in 15 career games played against the Philadelphia Flyers.
– Forward Quinton Byfield (1-0=1) buried his second overtime game-winning goal of the campaign, his 10th goal of the season overall. Today’s extra-time tally was the fifth of Byfield’s career, making the 23-year-old one of just nine players in Kings history with as many overtime goals. No other player in franchise history has scored more than twice in the extra frame before turning 24 years old. Byfield has eight points (2-6=8) in his last six consecutive games played against the Philadelphia Flyers, dating back to Jan. 24, 2023.
– Forward Corey Perry (0-2=2) earned helpers on both of Kempe’s first-period tallies this evening, accounting for the 40-year-old forward’s 16th and 17th assists of the season.
– Perry now has seven points (2-5=7) in his last seven appearances, dating back to Jan. 10, in Edmonton and leaves Xfinity Mobile Arena with seven points (2-5=7) over his last four visits to the building, dating back to Dec. 5, 2021, as a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning. Perry secured his fifth multi-point performance of the season, breaking a tie with Joel Edmundson (4 GP) for sole possession of fifth amongst all Kings skaters this season.
– Forward Alex Laferriere (0-1=1) notched his 13th assist of the campaign with a primary set-up on Kempe’s game-opening goal. The 24-year- old has five assists through his first five career games played against the Flyers.
– Defenseman Drew Doughty (0-1=1) recorded 11th assist of the season with a secondary helper on Byfield’s overtime goal. In doing so, the 36-year-old blueliner (163-537=700) becomes the 32nd different defenseman in NHL history to tally 700 career points.
– Goaltender Darcy Kuemper turned aside 19 of the Flyers’ 21 shots through regulation and overtime to earn his 14th win of the year, his 55th career victory as a member of the LA Kings. In doing
The Kings are scheduled to travel to Carolina later today, in advance of tomorrow’s game in Raleigh against the Hurricanes. Puck drop is scheduled for noon Pacific, 3 PM local time.
