FINAL – Kings 5, Bruins 4 (OT) – Clarke, Gavrikov, Laferriere, Hiller

In a memorable finish, Brandt Clarke’s first career NHL goal came in overtime as the LA Kings completed a third period comeback Saturday afternoon in Boston to defeat the Bruins by a 5-4 final at TD Garden.

Clarke’s winning strike came on a breakaway off a pass by Phillip Danault moments after he was whistled for hooking at 2:24 of the extra period. The Kings killed off the two-minute, 4-on-3 opportunity for Boston and Clarke jumped out of the penalty box in time to catch Danault’s pass, then deked around goaltender Linus Ullmark and shoved the puck past the line with his forehand.

The Kings fell behind on three different occurrences in the game but were able to even it back up each time, forcing overtime when captain Anze Kopitar converted a late power play chance with an extra attacker on the ice and less than two minutes remaining in regulation. Assists on the tying goal were credited to Drew Doughty and Viktor Arvidsson, who recorded his first point of the season in his second game since returning from injury.

Other Kings goals in the game were scored by defensemen Matt Roy and Vladislav Gavrikov, as well as forward Alex Laferriere, who played his first career game in Boston and scored his second goal of the season against the Bruins.

The contest also extended an improbable streak of come-from-behind wins for the Kings at the TD Garden. LA has now won four consecutive meetings in overtime after tying the game within the final 2:10 of regulation. Each of the last six meetings between the clubs have required overtime, with the Kings winning five of those matchups.

The Bruins took the initial lead at 8:03 of the first when James Van Riemsdyk scored his first goal of the day off a loose puck in front of the net.

Boston appeared to make it a 2-0 game seconds later, but the goal was disallowed due to goaltender interference on David Rittich after the Kings’ bench challenged the call.

Roy got LA on the board at 11:02 of the first to even the score up for the first time at 1-1 with his third goal of the year. The shot came from the corner of the offensive zone on a sharp angle and glanced off goaltender Linus Ullmark before rolling past the goal line. Assists on the play went to both Trevor Lewis and Andreas Englund.

Three minutes later, the Bruins went back in front, 2-1 on Van Riemsdyk’s second goal of the period which came on the power play at 14:45.

The game remained 2-1 during the first half of the second period until Boston’s Anthony Richard found the back of the net for his first of the season at 13:04 to push the home team’s lead to two goals.

But Gavrikov responded for the Kings with his fourth tally of the season on a deflection off a Bruins’ skater before the end of the frame at 16:38.

Laferriere tied the game at 3-3 5:51 into the third with the seventh strike of his rookie season on a goalmouth scramble. The winger got a piece of the puck that eventually made its way past the goal line with help from his new linemates Pierre-Luc Dubois and Quinton Byfield.

Less than two minutes later, the Bruins responded again to re-take the lead at 4-3 on a goal by Trent Frederic at 7:12.

Boston held the lead until the Kings pulled goaltender David Rittich in favor of an extra attacker during the late man-advantage. In just their second power play of the game, Kopitar netted his 17th of the season.

Rittich turned out 28 shots in the game to win for his second straight outing and improve to 8-2-3 on the season. LA held the Bruins to a 1-for-4 result on the power play and held a shots-on-goal edge of 35-32 in the contest.

Clarke discussed his game-winner after the contest, as did Alex Laferriere and interim head coach Jim Hiller, who improved to 3-1-0 in four games as the team’s bench boss.

Brandt Clarke
On if he could have possibly dreamed up his first career NHL goal any better than it actually happened
No, not at all, not at all. My heart was racing for a while in the penalty box and I think from when I touched it at the red line to when everyone was jumping on me, I don’t even really remember that section but that was pretty wild. I’m happy we got the job done.

On when he knew he’d make the move that he did on the game-winning goal
I don’t know, this all happened really fast. I saw he was out, so I didn’t think shot was the best option there, I kind of wanted to get far, so I just tried to make one move to my backhand, try to get him to bite and luckily he did. I had the far side open so I just went back over there. Yeah, that was cool.

On getting that kind of win over a team like Boston
They’re a really, really good team, a lot of skill, a lot of guys that can finish as everyone knows, so you’ve got to be weary of who is on the ice. Overall, I think we played played well. There were some misreads in situations, for both sides, and I think we’re both really good at capitalizing, so they ended up in the back of the net. Those are the ones you’ve got to pull out, when it’s kind of a dogfight both ways, and we did. That was awesome to finish the job there.

On being a player who thrives in the biggest moments of games
My mom always says she loves when I’m out there in the last couple minutes, she thinks something good happens, so she already texted me, saying she said something was going to happen there, so I said that was funny, so shoutout to her. I embrace the moment and I want to make a big play in all situations of the game, but you know, I was in alone on the goalie, so it’s my job to finish there and luckily I did.

Vladislav Gavrikov
On the emotion and intensity of the game
Yeah kind of played against a good team, the crowd was there so a lot of energy and we were glad to find a way.

On the resiliency of the group to come back multiple times in the game
Oh, that was huge. I mean, we got a point anyhow, and it turned into overtime. PK was great, really helped us out and Clark finished it up so that was pretty good.

On the way the team has played the last two games after losing in Buffalo
I mean, we know how we’re going to play and sometimes it’s going sideways, right? And you always got to find a way every single night as it’s a game for two points and we have to go and earn it, every single one. So nothing changes for us. You can fall down a little bit and just got to go and make it two strides forward.

Alex Laferriere
On the way the game played out with a lot of emotion and a playoff-type feel
I think it’s two really good teams going at it. A lot of emotion comes with that. I think [Englund] set the tone right from the start there with that fight that we’re swinging right now and we need to win games. So yeah, I think that definitely felt playoff like.

On many of his team’s goals coming from around the front of the net
They were a really tough team to play against, they play good in transition and they have a Vezina goalie so I think anytime you can get in front of him and kind of get in his eyes and stuff like that, it creates offense. We were lucky enough that they went in today.

On playing for Jim Hiller as his head coach for the last four games
Yeah, I mean it’s awesome. Anytime you have a coach like that, it’s pretty easy to play for him. He’s very energetic on the bench and wants the best out of his players and he knows when guys are going and to get them on the ice so I think that helped a lot.

On what it was like playing in Boston in a building he played at during his college career
It was pretty special. I mean, my favorite team growing up so a lot of players on that team are people I looked up to my whole life so being able to share the ice with them was pretty special. It was pretty cool to just look up and see the arena and I came to watch the Beanpot a couple weeks ago, was watching from the stands so it’s pretty special to be on the ice tonight.

Jim Hiller

Notes –

– Matt Roy (1-0=1) scored his third goal of the season. Roy has now picked up points in three-straight games against the Bruins (1-2=3) dating back to Jan. 5, 2023.

– Vladislav Gavrikov (1-0=1) scored his fourth goal of the season for his 15th point of the campaign (4-11=15).

– Alex Laferriere (1-0=1) tallied his seventh goal of the season. Laferriere has now scored a goal in back-to-back games against the Bruins and is the second skater in Kings history to record a two-game goal streak against the Bruins within his rookie season, joining Daryl Sydor (2GP; 2-1=3) in 1992-93.

– Anze Kopitar (1-0=1) registered his 17th goal of the season and second in as many games at the 18:35 mark of the third period. It was his ninth career game-tying goal in the final two minutes of regulation. Only Dave Andreychuk (110, Wayne Gretzky (11), Teemu Selanne (11) and Alex Ovechkin (10) have more in NHL history.

– Brandt Clarke (1-1=2) scored the overtime game-winning goal for his first career NHL goal, becoming the first player in franchise history to score his first career NHL goal in overtime.

– Per NHL PR, Clarke (21 years, 8 days) is the fourth-youngest player and second-youngest defenseman in franchise history with an overtime goal behind Drew Doughty (20 years, 104 days on March 22, 2010), Olli Jokinen (20 years, 115 days on March 30, 1999) and Anze Kopitar (20 years, 78 days on Nov. 10, 2007).

– Clarke is also fourth Kings skater this season to score their first career NHL goal, joining Alex Laferriere, Andreas Englund, and Alex Turcotte.

– Quinton Byfield (0-1=1) recorded his 23rd assist of the season for his 40th point of the campaign (17-23=40). He is the first Kings player with 40 in a season at age 21 or younger since Drew Doughty (11-29—40 in 2010-11).

– Trevor Lewis (0-1=1) tallied his fifth assist of the season for his 98th career assist as a member of the Kings, two assists shy of becoming the seventh U.S.-born skater in Kings history to tally 100 assists with the franchise.

– Drew Doughty (0-1=1) picked up his 17th assist of the season. The assist was Doughty’s eighth career power-play point against the Bruins (2-6=8), breaking a tie with Rob Blake (4-3=7) for the most power-play points by a defenseman against Boston in Kings history.

– Pierre-Luc Dubois (0-2=2) registered his 12th and 13th assists as part of his fifth multi-point outing of the season.

– Viktor Arvidsson (0-1=1), Phillip Danault and Andreas Englund (0-1=1) each picked up helpers.

– David Rittich stopped 28 of 32 shots faced to earn his eighth victory of the campaign and improve his season record to 8-2-3.

– The Kings had points from five different defensemen today (3-3=6), the most Kings blueliners to record points since Oct. 27, 2023, (5 Players, 0-5=5) in a 6-3 victory against Arizona.

The Kings are not scheduled to hold a morning skate tomorrow in Pittsburgh. The team will return to the ice tomorrow evening, as they visit the Pittsburgh Penguins at 3 PM Pacific, 6 PM local.

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