FINAL – Kings 7, Blues 6 – Arvidsson, Kempe, Durzi, McLellan

The LA Kings held on to win a wild one, with a 7-6 final over the St. Louis Blues, as they tied a franchise record for the longest home point streak in franchise history at 13 games.

Six Kings players had multiple points in the victory, led by three-point nights from forwards Viktor Arvidsson (2-1-3) and Phillip Danault (0-3-3). Forward Adrian Kempe also scored twice, while forward Trevor Moore had a goal and an assist and defenseman Sean Durzi and forward Kevin Fiala each had two assists in their returns to the lineup off of their respective injuries.

The Kings jumped out of the gates with two goals within the first three minutes of tonight’s game. First, just 27 seconds in, Fiala fed Arvidsson, who wheeled into the left-hand circle and beat St. Louis goaltender Joel Hofer at the near post, his third straight game with a goal. Forward Alex Iafallo made it 2-0 on the man advantage, just over two minutes later, as he buried Arvidsson’s feed at the back post for his second power-play goal in as many nights.

Kempe pulled the hosts ahead by three just shy of five minutes later, as he buried his 35th goal of the season. With the Kings shorthanded, Moore fed Kempe in space and the Swede gained the offensive zone and fired on net from the right-hand circle, with his shot deflecting off of Hofer’s glove and in for the 3-0 advantage.

St. Louis got on the board just over eight minutes into the game, through forward Brandon Saad. Saad’s shot from in close hit the back bar and bounced immediately out, with play continuing at first into the neutral zone. The horn eventually sounded, signaling a good goal, Saad’s 18th of the season.

In the latter stages of the opening period, the Kings added two more power-play goals to take a 5-1 lead into the first intermission. First, Durzi connected with Arvidsson for the latter’s second goal of the night, a one-timer at the back post off a pinpoint feed from the blueline. Moore made it 5-1 with his ninth goal of the season, a nifty deflection off a Danault feed from the top of the left circle, Danault’s third point of the evening.

The Blues opened the scoring in the second period through defenseman Justin Faulk, who capitalized after an extended shift in the offensive zone. Forward Tyler Pitlick rimmed the puck around the wall to Faulk, who shot from the right point, possibly off a stick in front and through the legs of Kings netminder Pheonix Copley and in for a 5-2 score.

The visitors scored twice late in the second period as they pulled back to within a goal heading into the second intermission. First, forward Pavel Buchnevich worked his way untouched to the netfront and shot past Copley on the blocker side for the goal. 90 seconds after Buchnevich’s goal, forward Jordan Kyrou scored a power-play goal, as he got in alone and went high on the glove side for the goal, his 32nd of the season.

Early in the third period, the Kings got a crucial insurance goal from Kempe, who buried his second of the evening. After Kempe forced a turnover on the forecheck, the puck went to defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov, who returned the feed to Kempe in the slot for a quick-release shot and the 6-4 advantage. The goal was Kempe’s 36th of the season, setting a new career high.

St. Louis pulled back to within a goal through Kapanen, however, to make it a 6-5 game just over eight minutes into the third period. After a puck was barely kept alive at the blueline, Kapanen found a pocket of space in the low slot, took a feed from Buchnevich and beat Copley with a snap shot for his 14th goal of the season.

The Kings buried their fourth power-play goal of the evening just 39 seconds after Kapanen’s goal, to pull ahead by two once again. Doughty made it five goals from his last six games played with a shot from the point, through traffic and in, for his eighth goal of the season. Fiala picked up his second assist of the evening with the lone helper on the play, giving him a multi-point effort in his first game back from injury.

St. Louis pulled a late goal back, a deflected bid from Kyrou to make it a 7-6 game, but the Kings held on for the victory.

Hear from Arvidsson, Kempe, Durzi and Head Coach Todd McLellan following tonight’s win.

Viktor Arvidsson

Arvidsson speaks to the media after tallying 4 goals this weekend! 🔊#GoKingsGo | @LAKings pic.twitter.com/SVekWyxh1z

— Bally Sports West (@BallySportWest) March 27, 2023

Adrian Kempe
On the changes in the game between the first and second period
I don’t think we played badly, but there was no talk in the d-zone and stuff like that. We were trying to be a little bit too fancy, we still had a lot of puck possession, a lot of o-zone time, but there was no communication out there after we were up 5-1. It wasn’t good enough, but it was a good lesson for us and we came out with the win, so that was big.

On exceeding last season’s goal total with his 36th of the season
It feels good that I can deliver, when I’m playing on the first line that’s something you’ve got to do. It’s pretty easy to play with the guy next to me, he usually feeds me a lot of pucks and it’s on me to put it in the net. It’s been like that all year and I’m happy that I could live up to expectations.

On exceeding last season’s goal total with his 36th of the season
Over the last couple of weeks, we feel like our game is there. It’s not going to be perfect every period, that showed up tonight, but we’ve played really well over the last couple of weeks. We took that a little bit for granted in the second period, but I think we showed that we can not play our best game and still beat teams. That was a good character win.

Sean Durzi
On getting back into the lineup for the first time since his injury
Yeah, I mean it feels good, a good mood getting back in the groove with the guys and it was nice having a nice routine again. It felt good.

On what he felt was clicking with his power-play unit tonight
We were laughing before, we’re back together, we knew we were hot at the beginning of the season and throughout the year a little bit, but I mean we’ve just got good chemistry, skilled players making skilled plays. I thought for a lot of guys, the execution was there and we knew it had to be tonight. I’m proud of the guys.

On the group being able to close out a game like that in the third period
I mean, you’ve seen it over the last little bit, here of holding leads and playing well as a team. Obviously there are a ton of things we’ve got to clean up, these games aren’t going to happen the rest of the way I don’t think, it’s going to be tight the rest of the year and we’ve got to be able to close it out a little better than we did tonight. That’s something we want to clean up. Proud of the effort, two points is two points and this time of the year, you need everything you can get, so happy with that, but obviously a lot of things we can clean up.

Todd McLellan
On what he felt changed between the first period and the final 40 minutes
We weren’t playing our game, obviously. We got a little bit cute, a little bit fancy, didn’t go after them hard. They know what works and what doesn’t work, had to remind them of that a little bit, but it wasn’t yelling and screaming. It was just reminders of things that we needed to do better. It got a little bit better in the third, but I thought we let that game get away on us and it wasn’t our best work

On winning the special teams battle and getting four on the power play
Well, special team, we got dinged up from two on the penalty kill, so we were 0-for-[2] there, but the powerplay did a really good job. You’ve got to win in different ways, even when you’re not playing your best, which was evident tonight and the power play came through.

On if he felt tonight was different than the high-scoring games early in the season
Yeah, I think it is. I think we were able to get to a young goaltender and it came real fast. Nothing ever comes easy in this league, but the powerplay was clicking, everything felt good. Then, we played like it felt good instead of playing our game and that’s when it changed. I don’t think it’s like the other games where we gave up five or six a night. We had an off night and I think we can dial it back in, we’re going to need to.

On his evaluations of Durzi and Fiala in their first games back from injury
I thought they both looked good. Durz played his game, he had good vision, power play looked sharper, he moved pucks out of his zone, didn’t get himself into a lot of defensive trouble. I thought Kev looked dynamic. He was good on his edges, he made great passing plays with Arvy and Phil, that line was likely our most dangerous and it was really good to see both of them back in the lineup.

On Viktor Arvidsson’s game right now
He’s a hell of a player. We see the shot, the skating, the tenacity night after night, but there’s a lot of other things that go into that. His competitiveness on the bench and his discussion that he has with his linemates, him setting things up powerplay wise. He’s into it and it rubs off on others.

On if being able to win games in different ways is a good sign going into the playoffs
Well, this streak here at home was one I believe was in a certain way up until tonight. We checked well, we defended well, we had some timely scoring, we had great goaltending. Tonight, some of those things got away on us but we still found a way to win. I don’t think that game that we played or brought to the rink tonight, in the last 50 minutes of the game will get us a lot of wins in the playoffs, but the other games in the homestand will give us a chance.

Notes –
– The Kings victory marked their 12th consecutive game earning a point in the standings, setting a new franchise record for longest point streak (10-0-2).
– The Kings extended their home point streak to 13 games (11-0-2). Their current stretch ties the lengthiest home point streak in Kings history set during the 1992-93 season (13 GP, 12-0-1-0, Oct. 10 – Dec. 8, 1992).
The win marked the Kings eighth home victory during the month of March, tying the franchise record for most home wins in a single month (March 1974, 8-1-2-0). The Kings also completed the best seven-game homestand in franchise history with 12 points from a record of 5-0-2.
– Viktor Arvidsson (2-1-3) recorded his third consecutive multi-point contest and his third straight game with a goal. He now has recorded nine points (6-3-9) over his last six games. Arvidsson’s goal 27 seconds into the contest marked the third time this season that the Kings have scored in the opening 30 seconds of a game, tied with Calgary and Colorado for the most.
– Adrian Kempe (2-0-2) scored his 35th and 36th goals of the campaign to establish a new single-season career high for goals in a season. The last Kings player with more goals in a season was Ziggy Palffy (37) in 2002-03. His shorthanded tally in the first period marked the ninth of his career, the most shorthanded goals by a Kings skater since Kempe’s NHL season debut in 2016-17. Since the 2021-22 season, only Toronto’s Mitch Marner (7) and New York’s Chris Kreider (7) have more shorthanded goals than Kempe (6).
– Alex Iafallo notched his 12th goal on the year, for goals in back-to-back games, while also extending his point streak to three games (2-1-3).
– Trevor Moore (1-1-2) collected his sixth multi-point contest of the season, with his ninth goal of the 2022-23 season.
– Drew Doughty scored his eighth goal of the season to stretch his goal scoring into a third game (3-2=5), matching his career long set April 6-9, 2013. Doughty has goals in five of his last six games played.
– Philip Danault (0-3-3) registered his second three-assist effort and 10th multi-assist outing of the season to extend his point and assist streaks into a third game (0-5-5). Danault has earned assists in five of his last six games (0-7-7).
– Sean Durzi and Kevin Fiala each totaled two assists in their first games back in the lineup off of their respective injuries.
– Viktor Arvidsson and Phillip Danault became the third and fourth Kings players in the past ten years to record three or more points in the opening period of a game, joining Kevin Fiala (2-1-3 on Feb. 18, 2022) and Jeff Carter (1-2-3 on Feb. 9, 2017).
– The Kings scored four power-play goals in a game for the second time this season (Jan. 9 vs. EDM) and the 41st time in franchise history. The Kings are the only club to record four or more power-play goals in multiple games this season.

The Kings will not practice tomorrow, with a travel day from Los Angeles to Calgary. The Kings will return to the ice on Tuesday at 11:30 AM for morning skate at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Alberta.