The LA Kings both overturned and lost a two-goal lead, as another game progressed into overtime, before they found a way to pick up the victory, a 7-6 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday at Crypto.com Arena.
Toronto opened the scoring with the teams playing 4-on-4, capitalizing on a Joel Edmundson turnover in the neutral zone. Edmundson had his pocket picked at the center-red line, which sent Toronto the other way. Forward Max Domi dropped the puck back to forward Matthew Knies in the high slot, with a shot from a decent way out beating Kings goaltender Darcy Kuemper for an early 1-0 advantage.
Midway through the opening period, the visitors scored again off a Kings turnover, taking a 2-0 lead into the first intermission. On a power-play breakout, Toronto forward Steven Lorentz stripped the puck off of Kings forward Anze Kopitar, creating a shorthanded breakaway the other direction. Lorentz buried the shot, glove side, for his sixth goal of the season and two-goal advantage.
Just 61 seconds into the second period, the Kings executed smoothly in transition to get on the board. Forward Trevor Moore threaded a pass to forward Jared Wright, who attacked into the right-hand circle. Wright then found forward Quinton Byfield at the back post for the tap-in goal, his tenth point in his last ten games, to get the hosts on the board. With the assist, Wright now has helpers in consecutive games.
The Kings tied the game at two still inside the first five minutes of the second period with another goal in transition. Defenseman Mikey Anderson stepped out of the penalty box and into the attack, intercepting a failed clearance by Toronto goaltender Joseph Woll. Anderson fed forward Adrian Kempe off the rush and Kempe buried his team-leading 31st goal of the season to tie the game at two.
The Maple Leafs restored their one-goal lead with a power-play tally midway through the second period. Forward William Nylander was given a lot of space in the left-hand circle and his shot beat Kuemper high glove side, off the post, off the chest of forward John Tavares and into the crease, where Tavares buried it from close range for his 30th goal of the season and a 3-2 lead.
Late in the second period, Los Angeles once again came back to tie the game, with defenseman Brandt Clarke the facilitator. Stationed at the center point, Clarke took a feed from forward Adrian Kempe, with space up top. Clarke worked his way into the slot and fed forward Artemi Panarin down low for a re-direct goal, Panarin’s 27th of the season, tying the game at three.
The visitors scored a goal on special teams for the fourth time in the game, however, with just 11.7 seconds remaining in the second period. Skating on the power play, forward Easton Cowan was uncovered in front and quickly buried a rebound off a shot by Tavares, giving the Maple Leafs a 4-3 lead after 40 minutes.
In a span of 96 seconds early in the third period, the Kings turned a one-goal deficit into a two-goal advantage, opening up a 6-4 advantage.
First, Panarin and Kempe combined on a nice goal between the team’s top two offensive players. Panarin showed terrific patience, as he rounded the net on his backhand, holding onto the puck, before he found Kempe in the slot. Kempe quickly caught and shot through traffic in front, past Woll and in for his second straight multi-goal game, his 32nd of the season, tying the game at four goals apiece.
Less than 30 seconds later, the Kings pulled ahead as the fourth line delivered perhaps their biggest goal of the season. Forward Taylor Ward found forward Samuel Helenius in the circle and with the third member of that line, forward Jeff Malott, providing a moving screen in front, Helenius buried his shot, his fifth goal of the season, as the Kings took their first lead of the game.
Just over a minute after the Helenius goal, the Kings took a two-goal advantage by capitalizing on the forecheck. Byfield forced the puck up the wall, which was intercepted by forward Trevor Moore along the boards. Moore found forward Alex Laferriere in the slot and seemingly in one motion, he caught the puck and shot it into the top corner for his 19th goal of the season, matching his career high from last year.
The roller coaster of a game continued, as Toronto came back to overturn a two-goal deficit of its own, tying the game at six goals apiece. Both goals came off of Kings turnovers in the defensive zone.
First, the Maple Leafs knocked down a clearance by defenseman Brian Dumoulin, creating a tight, 2-on-1 in the offensive zone. Forward Dakota Joshua fed forward Nicholas Robertson in the slot and he buried his 15th goal of the season to make it a 6-5 game. Knies then made tied the game at six, as Toronto took advantage of turnovers by Edmundson and Kuemper, with Knies burying off a Tavares assist to pull the visitors level.
As has been the case for so much of the season, the game headed into overtime, as the Kings set an NHL record for most overtime games played in a single season. With the game tied, Kempe, Panarin and Byfield connected on a tic-tac-toe passing play for one of the prettiest goals of the season, with Byfield burying the game-winning goal to secure the second point in a 7-6 victory.
Hear from Panarin, Kempe and Interim Head Coach D.J. Smith following tonight’s victory.
Artemi Panarin
Adrian Kempe
On the overtime game-winning goal
On that play, 3-on-2, him and Bread were connected, I tried to find one of them and then a great pass by Bread to him back door. Q has been playing really, really well for us. That’s what we’re going to have to need from him. Obviously it’s pressure, but he’s that good, so it’s something that we need for the rest of the stretch here, especially in the regular season, to get into the playoffs. He’s been playing great, so it’s a lot of fun to watch for us.
On three goals in 96 seconds that flipped the game in the third period
Yeah, it was great. Even going into the third, we were down one, but we’re talking about it, we were playing well, it’s just small details. We made some mistakes out there too that really cost us, but I think on the other side of it, I thought we were creating a lot of chances as well and we said going into the third that. You stick with it, we’re going to get scoring chances. Obviously, we did go up and then they came back again, that was obviously not the game plan, but I think once again, we showed tonight and last game that just the way the team stuck with it tonight and really wanted to win. That was the most important thing tonight, to get to two points, doesn’t matter what the score was or how we played.
On a four-point night and his production as of late
It’s hard to say, but just keep it simple. I’m playing with really good players and I’m just trying to get open and do my work out there and not try to think about it too much. It’s crucial games that we have to play, so obviously I’m happy that I can contribute and do my part.
On the style of play tonight and whether or not that matters at this point in the season
I think we’ve played good enough defensively throughout the season, where we have had a lot of 2-1, 3-2, games. Obviously, we would like to score seven every night and not let up six. but at this time right now, everybody wants and need the points. Obviously I don’t think every game is going to be 7-6 for the rest of the year, but sometimes we have one of these and obviously it’s good that we’re on the right side of it for once. I think we’ve worked hard enough throughout this year where we haven’t had a lot of games that go our way, especially these types of games as well. I think we deserved this one tonight, I think it feels good. We didn’t plat maybe our best game, but getting the points, that’s what gives you confidence, that’s what he keeps bringing you forward and that’s what we need right now.
D.J. Smith
His overall thoughts on the win
That’s a really weird game. We created a ton and just shot ourselves in the foot. 6-4 lead, we just made some poor decisions with the puck. But if we played great and we lost 3-2 tonight to a top goaltending display, I’d sit here and not feel any better with a moral victory. So we’re going to take that and we’re going to take the two points, and then we’re just going to throw the tape away and we’re going to move on to the next one.
On lineup decisions that he will need to make in the coming days
Well, I’m going to talk to [Mike Buckley], and I’m going to talk to management, I’m going to talk to everyone involved, and see where we’re going with our lineup in general, not just him. I mean, there were some guys that played really well, then there were some guys that didn’t play well at all. So there has to be accountability for how you play and if there’s somebody that can come in and help us, we’re going to do it.
On setting a new record for overtime games in a single NHL regular season
I’ve never seen anything quite like it, obviously it’s a record. In saying that, I don’t know where we are in regulation losses. We play with everybody, whoever it is, but, you can sit here and chuckle about it a little bit tonight, because you win. You don’t win that game, and you’re not feeling very good. We get a day off with Easter, we got a morning skate, and then we’ve got ourselves another playoff game Monday night. And you know, certainly we’re going to have to check harder and be more involved from the get-go.
On what he would have liked to see differently from his team
It’s a hard one, because when you say you don’t play good, you didn’t play good in certain scenarios. Our power play could have scored, I don’t know how many, we had 13 shots we had Grade-A chances. Penalty kill would like one back, probably. Then there was just some broken plays where we turn pucks over, but there were stretches of the game where we had the puck for countless minutes, chances, rush plays. For a team that doesn’t score a lot, we created a ton of opportunity. Now we got to tighten it up, for sure, but there’s been games, that Utah game in here, for example, where we just were no good every which way from Sunday and we were really good offensively, we weren’t good defensively so I think when you say we weren’t good, we weren’t good defensively, we were really good offensively.
On tightening up the defensive end of the team’s game
We’ll the one thing about the LA Kings is, we know how to play defense. And there’s one thing you can do is tighten it up. And there’s guys back there and guys on this team that know how to play defense, and that’s something we’re going to have to address is, we got to make sure we’re giving up less. We give up 20 shots, but the grades of the chances, are they rush chances? But in saying that, again, a lot of the forwards are playing their best hockey of the year offensively right now.
On the play of the Laferriere, Byfield, Moore line
That line has been really good. Q gets two tonight. I mean, when your top two lines score like that, typically you win that game going away, you just don’t like the way you won. But, Lou Lamouello told me you never critique a win. And you know, you play 10 games, the best teams in league win six or seven times out of 10. And you critique those four losses or three losses, you start picking on the wins, before you know what you’re critiquing everything. So we’re just going to take the two and we’re going to move on.
On the play of the fourth line after they were reunited
They play together. They like playing with each other. I wish I could get them out there more, it’s just the special teams is what happened. When those guys play 10 minutes, we’re a pretty good team. That means we’re rolling over the bench. Guys are coming. Guys are playing faster. But when you’re down, you know you’re forced to lean on some of the big dogs a little more in saying that, the big dogs got the job done.
Notes –
– Forward Quinton Byfield (2-0=2) scored his 19th and 20th goals of the season for his second consecutive multi-point game against Toronto with an overtime game-winning goal, following his effort on Nov. 13, 2025, at Scotiabank Arena (1-1=2). Byfield’s game-decider today marked his sixth career overtime goal, tying Tanner Pearson for the sixth-most in franchise history. With his effort tonight, Byfield secured his third consecutive 20-goal season, trailing only Adrian Kempe (5 from 2021-22 to present) for the longest active run amongst Kings skaters.
– Forward Adrian Kempe (2-2=4) recorded the fourth four-point outing of his career this afternoon. The winger scored his team-leading 31st and 32nd goals of the season before adding his 36th and 37th assists of the season today. Kempe’s performance today extended his goal streak to a season- long fourth game (6-4=10), dating back to March 28 vs. Utah, as well as extending his overall point streak to a fifth game (6-4=10), dating back to March 26 at VAN.
– It is the sixth goal streak of four games of his career, and the fifth time in his career he has scored multiple goals in consecutive games. The pair of points also stand as Kempe’s 467th, 468th, 469th, and 470th career points (226-244=470), passing Charlie Simmer (222-244=466) for sole possession of the 12th-most points in franchise history.
– Forward Artemi Panarin (1-2=3) scored his 27th goal of the season before providing his 52nd and 53rd assists of the season this afternoon, finding the scoresheet in his third consecutive appearance at Crypto.com Arena (1-4=5), dating back to April 1 against St. Louis.
– Forward Samuel Helenius (1-0=1) scored his fifth goal of the campaign today, establishing a new single-season career high.
– Forward Alex Laferriere (1-0=1) scored his 19th goal of the season this afternoon, tying his single-season career high (19 G) from the 2024-25 campaign.
– Forward Jared Wright (0-1=1) picked up his third career assist with a primary set-up on Byfield’s goal, establishing the first point streak of his career (0-2=2), dating back to April 2 vs NSH.
– Forward Trevor Moore (0-2=2) recorded a pair of assists to secure his third multi-point game of the season and become the ninth undrafted skater in franchise history to reach the 15-assist mark five or more times.
– Defenseman Mikey Anderson (0-1=1) recorded his 15th helper of the campaign, marking the fourth consecutive season that Anderson has recorded 15 or more assists in his seven-year career with the Kings.
– Defenseman Brandt Clarke (0-1=1) picked up his 31st assist of the year this afternoon
– Forward Taylor Ward (0-1=1) collected his fourth assist of the season and defenseman Cody Ceci (0-1=1) notched his eighth assist of the campaign on Helenius’ goal.
– Defenseman Joel Edmundson (0-1=1) picked up his 19th assist of the season for his 21st point of the campaign this afternoon, setting a new single-season career high for points.
– Goaltender Darcy Kuemper made 14 saves to earn his 19th win of the season.
The Kings have a scheduled day off tomorrow and will return to the ice for morning skate on Monday, April 6, in advance of tonight’s
