FINAL – Kings 2, Flames 4 – Danault, Byfield, Hiller

The LA Kings fell to 0-2 on their three-game Canadian roadtrip, following a 4-2 defeat against the Calgary Flames on Tuesday evening at the Scotiabank Saddledome.

The Kings totaled just three shots on goal in the first period but did not concede, as the teams hit the first intermission still in search of the game’s first goal.

After more than 32 minutes had gone by, the Kings finally opened the scoring through forward Phillip Danault, who buried his 11th goal of the season for a 1-0 advantage. Forward Kevin Fiala worked the puck through the neutral zone and set up Danault on a zone entry over the offensive blue line. Danault wound up and beat Calgary goaltender Jacob Markstrom clean on the glove side with a slap shot for the game’s first goal.

The Flames responded with a pair of goals, less than 60 seconds apart, as they pulled ahead for the first time in the game.

First, forward Andrew Mangiapane split the Kings blueliners and took a stretch pass from defenseman Noah Hanafin to create a breakaway. Mangiapane deked to his forehand and slotted calmly past Kings netminder Cam Talbot for his 12th goal of the season and a tie game. Less than a minute later, forward Blake Coleman put the hosts ahead, as he swatted home a Jonathan Huberdeau rebound for a 2-1 advantage.

With just over a minute remaining in the second period, Fiala pulled the Kings level with his second point of the evening. Off a clean zone entry into the offensive zone, forward Anze Kopitar got a shot on net, which was kicked aside by Markstrom, but Fiala followed up on the play and buried the rebound on his backhand, his fourth goal in his last five games and a multi-point night.

After a back-and-forth start to the third, Calgary pulled ahead just over 12 minutes into the period. Forward Yegor Sharangovich took a pass from forward Dryden Hunt, skated through the neutral zone and across the offensive blue line, before placing his shot pats Talbot, high on the glove side, for his 21st goal of the season and a 3-2 advantage.

Calgary got an empty-net goal from forward Mikael Backlund with 1:14 remaining to bring the team to the final score of 4-2.

Hear from Danault, forward Quinton Byfield and Head Coach Jim Hiller following tonight’s game.

Phillip Danault

Danault speaks with the media🎤@LAKings I #LAKingsLive pic.twitter.com/OvGwXDVj4H

— Bally Sports West (@BallySportWest) February 28, 2024

Quinton Byfield
On the difference in another game that was tight in the third period
We’ve got to find a way to win those.They came out hard, hungry, they were better than us the first couple of minutes, kind of carried on through the game. So, it’s tough when you start behind like that, but those are just games that we’ve got to win.

On what he felt was lacking at the start
Back-to-backs are always tough, but it’s not an excuse, every team has them, goes through them. Personally, myself, I wasn’t good enough, just not my usual self, getting on pucks, finding stuff like that. I think maybe we weren’t ready to play or not expecting Calgary to come out like that, so there’s a lot that goes into stuff like that.

On the team’s power play and coping without Kempe and Arvidsson
Yeah, Juice is huge for us and he’s heavy, fast, physical, he does everything. He can penalty kill, power play, that’s a big guy to miss for us and it showed out there that we need him, but other guys have got to step up, including myself so it doesn’t feel like we miss him that much.

On seeing Alex Turcotte step up onto his line in the second and third periods
Turcs, he’s a great player. I got a chance to play with him and Ontario for a little bit, all the games I played there, so maybe some chemistry me and him have. When he came on our line there, I think he sparked us, got us going, he has the legs. He’s tenacious on the puck, he was really good for our line and of course, he can make plays as well.

On what the message was to the team heading into the third period
Our message was we didn’t want to come out like last game, but it ended in the same result, which sucks, but that was that was our mindset. We came out hard, put together a couple shifts there in the o-zone, which we didn’t have in the first two periods really. We just didn’t want to come out like last time, but it sucks, same result. Now we’ve got to get two points in Vancouver.

Jim Hiller
On what he felt was lacking off the puck drop tonight
They came at us quick in the first. We won’t use fatigue but we were on our heels, there’s no question. The positive side of that is we defended it pretty well, even though we were on our heels. We made some mistakes, guys were in behind to clean it up and Talbs made the saves he needed to, to start the game.

On handling power-play situations with players out of the lineup with injuries
I mean, we’ve still got enough guys, we should be able to execute, we didn’t, clearly. I thought Kevin had two really good looks there, right at the end, he missed both times wide. I can see from my angle, I don’t think Markstrom could see either of them. So, if we can get that, it makes a difference for us, that would have been the big one. Prior to that, we just didn’t execute enough, but that was most of the night. We didn’t execute most of the night, offensively at least.

On any changes he saw from the team in the second and third period after the slow start
We were under siege and we came out even, so we felt you know what, okay, that was a tough 20 but now we’re down to 40, so let’s get going. I thought we got better as the game went on. The second period was better, the third period was our best period. We had some scrambles, you saw that, we had a chance to actually get a couple in the third and give the goalie credit, he did his job and got it done.

On what he saw from Alex Turcotte tonight when moved up in the lineup
Turcs specifically, he’s coming in, he was fresh, and he was skating. I thought Turcs played a really good game. He was in and around the o-zone, he forechecked, a couple chances from right around the net front. So, fresh legs, made a difference. I think it gave that line a little bit of a push.

On seeing Phillip Danault get off the schneid with his second-period goal
They did a good job on the penalty kill for sure, him and Moorsie together and despite that line maybe not having their the legs, they did score. Phil looked pretty relieved to get that one, it had been awhile, it was a nice shot. Just a dependable player, Phil. We know what we’re getting most nights. He wants a little bit more offense, we’d like that from him, so maybe that goal will spark him a bit.

Notes –
– Kevin Fiala (1-1=2) scored his 17th goal and 32nd assist of the season as part of his 13th multi-point game this campaign. It was also his team-leading eighth multi-point road game this season. Fiala has now picked up five points (2-3=5) over his last four visits to the Scotiabank Saddledome, dating back to Feb. 26, 2022.
– Phillip Danault (1-0=1) registered his 11th goal of the season. All 11 of Danault’s goals have come on the road this season, tied for the third-most road goals among Quebec-born skaters in the league, trailing only – Anthony Mantha (13) and Jonathan Marchessault (17).
– Drew Doughty (0-1=1) picked up his 21st assist of the season for his seventh point (2-5=7) in as many games, dating back to Feb. 17, 2024. The assist was the 499th of his career, one shy of becoming the seventh active, and 36th overall, defenseman to tally 500 career assists.
Doughty’s assist marked his 30th career point against the Calgary Flames (5-25=30), joining Brent Burns (13-35=48) as the only active defensemen to record 30 points against Calgary. Doughty joins Steve Duchesne (10-27=37) and Rob Blake (12-39=51) as the only blueliners in Kings history to tally 30 points against the Flames. Doughty played his 56th career game against the Flames, tying Jay Wells and Mark Hardy for the most by a Kings defenseman against the franchise.
– Anže Kopitar (0-1=1) notched his 31st assist of the season, extending his road point streak to a fifth game (2-3=5) dating back to Feb. 15, 2024. Kopitar has recorded a five-game road point streak for the 17th time in his career, tying Bernie Nicholls for the most such streaks in franchise history. Kopitar skated in his 1,350th career game, becoming the 55th skater in NHL history to reach that mark.
– Quinton Byfield (0-1=1) notched his 26th assist of the season. Byfield has now recorded 14 points (6-8=14) in his last 14 games, dating back to Jan. 20, 2024, and five points (2-3=5) over his last four game against Calgary, dating back to March 20, 2023. Only Tim Stützle (8-17-25) has more road points among skaters selected in the 2020 NHL Draft than Byfield’s 23 (7-16=23).
– Trevor Lewis (17th overall, 2006) played his 950th career NHL game, becoming the 36th American-born first-round draft pick to skate in as many games.

The Kings have a scheduled day off tomorrow following the back-to-back. The team will return to the ice for a full morning skate on Thursday at Rogers Arena in Vancouver.

Proudly presented by Destination Vancouver.
The Real Pacific Northwest. Go Norther.