The LA Kings completed their roadtrip with a record of 3-1-1, as they came from behind to earn a point in Carolina, though they ultimately fell short in a 3-2 overtime defeat.
Carolina found the back of the net on its first power play of the game, opening up a one-goal lead. For the second straight game between these two teams, it was forward Jordan Staal who scored the first goal of the game. Staal won the faceoff and then worked his way to the net and got a deflection off a shot pass from forward Andrei Svechnikov, sending it past Kings netminder Anton Forsberg and in for the early 1-0 advantage.
After more than 40 minutes came and went, defenseman Alexander Nikishin doubled the Carolina lead with just over seven minutes remaining in regulation. With the Kings scrambling in the defensive zone, they were able to clear the crease, but Brandt Clarke’s clearance attempt went to Nikishin in the slot, where he ripped home his seventh goal of the season to put the Hurricanes up 2-0.
The Kings responded on the very next shift, as their fourth line capitalized in a bump-up situation to pull back within a goal. Forward Taylor Ward drove through the middle of the ice, which opened up a lane for forward Jeff Malott down the left wing. Malott found forward Samuel Helenius cutting into the slot and he beat Carolina goaltender Brandon Bussi on the blocker side for his second goal in three games and a 2-1 scoreline.
The Kings came back to force overtime as forwards Adrian Kempe and Quinton Byfield connected on another goal to tie the game at two. Kempe rounded the net down the left wing and fed the puck back through the top of the crease to Byfield at the back post, where he buried the game-tying goal, his second in as many games, to equalize the score. Kempe extended his point streak to seven games with the primary assist.
In overtime, Carolina broke through to secure the second point, as forward Sebastian Aho won the game 3-on-3. Forward Seth Jarvis made a nice play along the wall to find Aho with some space in transition through the middle of the ice. Aho got a shot off from the slot, which deflected off Kempe’s stick and in to give the hosts the victory.
Hear from Malott, defenseman Drew Doughty and Head Coach Jim Hiller following today’s victory.
Jeff Malott
Drew Doughty
On the intensity in today’s game and finding a way to get a point from it
Both teams were battling very hard out there. That was a lot of fun of a game to play in. Obviously would have been more fun with the win and probably creating some more opportunities in their zone. You can say what you want about how they dominated us but the boys played so hard tonight. We didn’t give up, came back in the third, got a huge point. It’s the last game of a trip, a long trip, and obviously we want to have a win, but the effort was.
On if this felt more like a point taken than a point lost, compared to other OTL this year
Kind of, like I know they dominated the game, but we had our chances too that hit posts or missed the net and stuff like that. The game could have been different. Obviously, Forsy played well and we scrambled to keep some out of our net, but I wouldn’t say it was a stolen a point personally, but maybe with the way we came back late it was.
On adjusting to playing with five defensemen after the injury to Mikey Anderson
You’ve just got to run 5D, you have three righties, two lefties and for the most part, we didn’t really put two righties out together, unless it was me and Clarkie. You just roll the D, you kind of have, a little system you roll, and I thought we did a great job at that. To be honest, personally, I felt fresh as hell even going into overtime. I think the other D felt good too.
On his overall assessment of a 3-1-1 roadtrip
I would think that’s a good trip. Obviously, we would like to probably get one more win at least, but that’s a decent trip, for sure. We set out before the trip, we had meetings about having a good trip and I thought we did. We did have a good trip. Obviously, it could have been better, but we’ll take it.
Jim Hiller
On the intensity in today’s game and how the Kings handled it
I don’t think they liked their game last night, I had heard that through the grapevine. So, we knew they would come with some intensity. They play with intensity always, but I think probably coming off last night, they didn’t like that one, or so I was told. Good hockey game.
On Anton Forsberg’s performance to help earn a point on the road
He’s been good now for, I don’t know, you’d have to go back a long time to say yeah, maybe Forsy didn’t have a good night tonight. That would be a long time ago, I can’t remember when that was, so he’s just continued to play extremely well. You need it, especially at the tail end of a road trip. You need somebody to really step up, whether that’s a player or the goaltender, and we got that out of him.
On the bump-up shift from the fourth line to pull the first goal back
You just think about the whole trip that we’ve had and how important they’ve been for us. I thought it was fitting where we sagged, that was obviously a big moment, Forsy had been making a few saves and then they go out there and give us life again. I can’t say enough about those guys right now, with how they’ve been playing.
On how he felt his five defensemen handled things after Anderson went down
They were all really competitive, you saw that. Top to bottom, everybody was competitive. Drew got the most, the most ice time, but I thought all five really, really played well. They did what they had to do
On seeing Corey Perry be the guy to step up after Anderson went down
Just going to say it over and over again, he’s a hockey player and I say that with the highest compliment. He just knows the game. He knows how to be a teammate, he knows how to score goals, he knows what’s right and what’s needed in the moment. He’s had an amazing career so far and he’s got more left.
On if there was frustration with Perry getting the extra minor in that situation
Yeah, it was. There was a little bit of frustration with some different things out there tonight, from my perspective, but my perspective doesn’t matter very much.
Notes –
– Forward Samuel Helenius (1-0=1) scored his third goal of the season, his first career goal and second career point (1- 1=2) against the Carolina Hurricanes.
– Forward Quinton Byfield (1-0=1) tied the contest at a pair of goals apiece with his second goal in just over 24 hours, following his overtime game-winner yesterday in Philadelphia. Byfield’s 11th goal of the year extends his point streak against the Carolina Hurricanes to a fourth game (2-4=6), dating back exactly one year ago today, Feb. 1, 2025.
– Forward Jeff Malott (0-1=1) tallied his fifth assist of the season on Helenius’ goal, his fourth assist in his last six games, dating back to Jan. 20 against the New York Rangers.
– Defenseman Brian Dumoulin (0-1=1) registered his 11th assist of the campaign on Helenius’ tally, his sixth career point (1-5=6) in 27 career games played against the Carolina Hurricanes.
– Forward Adrian Kempe (0-1=1) notched his 25th assist of the year with his feed on Byfield’s game-tying goal. Kempe extends both his road point streak (4-5=9) and overall point streak (5-4=9) to seven games. This ties his longest road point streak, joining his 11-point (5-6=11), seven-game run earlier this season from Oct. 11 – Oct. 28, 2025.
– Kempe has recorded a point streak of at least this length four prior times in his career, led by a 13-point (6-7=13, nine- game streak from Oct. 24 – Nov. 11, 2023.
– The 29-year-old winger wraps the 2025-26 regular-season series with the Hurricanes with three assists (0-2=2 on Oct. 18, 2025, at Crypto.com Arena) and seven total points (3-4=7) in his last seven meetings with the club from the Tar Heel State, dating back to Jan. 31, 2023.
– Captain Anze Kopitar played his 747th career regular-season road game today at Lenovo Center, breaking a tie with Phil Housley (746 GP) for 25th most in NHL history. It was also the center’s 28th and final regular season contest with the Carolina Hurricanes, the third most games played against the Hurricanes/Whalers franchise in LA Kings history and the most by a King since their relocation to the Tar Heel State ahead of the 1997-98 campaign.
– Tonight’s contest was the Kings’ League-leading 23rd game to require extra time this season. This ties the 1995-96 (23 GP) and 2009-10 (23 GP) campaigns for the third most in franchise history behind 2011-12 (24 GP) and 2003-04 (27 GP).
The Kings will travel back to Los Angeles tonight and will have a scheduled day off tomorrow. The team will return to the ice on Tuesday, February 3 for practice at 11 AM at Toyota Sports Performance Center.
