FINAL – Kings 6, Canucks 3 – Doughty, Kempe, Fiala, Hiller

The LA Kings picked up their third consecutive victory, as they skated to a 6-3 win over Vancouver on Saturday evening at Crypto.com Arena.

The Kings opened the scoring with two power-play goals within the game’s first six minutes of play, taking a 2-0 lead early in the first period.

First, forward Adrian Kempe scored his third consecutive game-opening goal, as he got the Kings on the board less than three minutes into the game. Kempe took a pass from forward Anze Kopitar, moved into the right hashmarks and beat Vancouver netminder Casey DeSmith clean with a wrist shot, off the post and in, for an early 1-0 advantage.

Nearly three minutes later, the hosts doubled their lead through defenseman Drew Doughty, who scored his 15th goal of the season, tying him for seventh in the NHL amongst blueliners this season. Forward Viktor Arvidsson found Doughty with a low-to-high pass that handcuffed him a bit, but Doughty adjusted and one-timed the puck back against the grain, past DeSmith, for his team’s second power-play goal of the evening and a two-goal advantage.

Vancouver got on the board, through none other than forward Brock Boeser, to pull to within 2-1 midway through the first period. Boeser worked his way towards the net, skating out of the left-hand corner, and although the Kings pokechecked the puck off his stick, it popped up and over netminder Cam Talbot, into the net, for Boeser’s 17th career goal from 20 games played versus the Kings.

Just over two minutes into the second period, the Kings restored their two-goal advantage. Forward Kevin Fiala fed defenseman Jordan Spence at the center point for a one-timer, with forward Alex Laferriere providing the deflection on the play for the goal, his 12th of the season, putting the Kings ahead 3-1. Laferriere’s goal moved him into the top ten in the NHL in goals by a first-year player this season.

Still shy of the game’s halfway mark, Fiala made it a multi-point night, as he scored his 27th goal of the season to put the Kings ahead by three. Forward Anze Kopitar chipped the puck out of his own zone, off the glass, and Fiala raced onto the loose puck, evaded his defenseman and scored on the second effort for a 4-1 advantage. Fiala’s goal marked his 70th point of the season, his second-career 70-point campaign.

The teams traded goals throughout the third period, bringing us to the eventual 6-3 final score.

First, Vancouver moved to within 4-2 via forward Dakota Joshua, who scored his 16th goal of the season early in the third. Forward J.T. Miller worked his way into the slot with the puck and though his shot was kicked aside by Cam Talbot, Joshua followed up on the play and put home the rebound to bring the visitors within 4-2.

Forward Trevor Moore made it a milestone evening, as he scored his 30th goal of the season to restore the team’s three-goal advantage. Moore and forward Phillip Danault executed a give-and-go play out of the corner, with Danault quickly returning the puck to Moore, who scored from a sharp angle. Moore reached 30 goals for the first time in his NHL career, as the Kings pulled ahead 5-2.

The Canucks again pulled back within two goals, as they buried a shorthanded goal to push the score to 5-3. Defenseman Nikita Zadorov led the rush down the left wing and hit forward Teddy Blueger driving the net. Blueger was denied on his first attempt but scored on the second effort for his sixth goal of the season and a 5-3 score.

Kempe closed out the scoring inside the game’s final minutes as he scored a shorthanded goal of his own for his team’s sixth in total on the evening. Kempe outraced Vancouver defenseman Quinn Hughes down the right wing, deked to his forehand while shorthanded and buried his second goal of the game, his 27th of the season, for the 6-3 final.

Hear from Adrian Kempe, Kevin Fiala, Drew Doughty and Jim Hiller following tonight’s win over Vancouver.

Drew Doughty
On the team’s play in the win tonight over Vancouver
We started off pretty hot, power play did a great job of getting two goals on two opportunities and then we maybe didn’t have as great as a finish to the first period as we would have liked, but we stuck with it. Goaltending was good and for the most part, I thought our defending was good. We’ve got to, I think, learn a little bit that we’ve got to keep pushing forward to take control those games.

On many of the team’s top offensive players having multiple points tonight
That’s our job. When things are tough and it’s gutcheck time and all the pressure’s on you, that’s when your top guys step up and that’s why they’re top guys and why they’ve been top guys basically their whole careers, because in the big moments, they step up. We’re going to need to continue that to go far the season and in playoffs.

On his own season to date and his thoughts on where he’s at, after his 15th goal
Yeah, I’m really happy. I think I’ve had a really good season, both ends of the puck. Pucks are going in the net for me, which is always nice, so I would love to somehow get a couple more and beat my all-time high, but I’ll keep shooting and hopefully they go in. Yeah, I’m really happy. The team around me is much better than it’s been in the last few years, so that’s always a big help too.

On if he gets at all disappointed to not get more national recognition for his strong season
I used to get disappointed all the time and I wasted a lot of time thinking about the Norris and not getting credit for what I thought I deserved. As I’ve grown older, you’ve just got to not think about those things, just go out there, play your game and help the guys win games. Really, that’s all that matters, so it’s not something I dwell on anymore.

Kevin Fiala
On his goal tonight and how he timed the play to make it happen
I was just timing it. I saw that Kopi had it and they were also tired, so I knew he was going to probably chip it out and go change. I saw the D kind of being in the middle of it, so yeah, it was a good bounce and a good goal.

On his overall game of late, and Jim Hiller’s positive comments on his two-way play
It’s great to hear. Yeah, I’m trying to do both sides and it’s so important, especially at this time of the year, being reliable defensively, but also scoring goals and being effective in both sides of the ice.

On how the Kings were able to kill momentum in the third period
I think we killed their momentum with our goal. I think they pushed, but we got the power play there, so it killed their momentum a little bit and also I think it’s unbelievable defensively. We just kept them on the outside and Talbs did a great job. I think we stayed calm, just did our thing and didn’t panic.

On where he feels the team is out with five games left in the regular season
Good mood, good vibes. Obviously, we had another win tonight, against a good team, maybe against a potentially playoff matchup. So, it was great to show up tonight to win this game, but now we have to look forward. This was one game and we just have five more games and try to win.

Adrian Kempe
On the team’s offensive production tonight, all throughout the night
Good first two power plays, I think that was good for the momentum and good for the confidence. After that, I think it was a pretty even game overall, 5-on-5, and then at the end, had a breakaway, had some other chances tonight and I’m glad I could score on that one to put the game away.

On the feeling of the team gaining momentum down the stretch
I think we’ve been getting on a little bit of a roll here lately. This was one of the toughest games we have left on the schedule, Saturday night, everyone was really excited to get in here and play.

On the impact of the crowd in tonight’s game, another home victory
It was crazy. Ever since we showed up for the game, you could see people in the crowd, it was already buzzing in warmups and we came out off the bat and got two early goals. We just rode that wave for the rest of the game. Great atmosphere tonight.

Jim Hiller

Notes –
– Adrian Kempe (2-1=3) scored his 26th and 27th goals of the season as part of his co-team-leading 20th multi-point game of the campaign to eclipse the 70-point mark (27-44=71) for the first time in his career. With his trio of points, Kempe extends his point streak to a fifth game (5-3=8), dating back to March 30, 2024, marking the sixth different point streak of at least five games in his career.
– Kempe’s assist marked his 44th of the season, tying Tomas Sandstrom (44A, 1990-91) for the second-most assists in a single campaign by a Swedish-born skater.
– Kevin Fiala (1-1=2) picked up his 27th goal and 43rd assist of the season. With his goal, Fiala breaks a tie with Anže Kopitar for the second-most goals scored among Kings skaters this season, sitting only three goals behind Trevor Moore (30G) for the team lead.
– With his two points tonight, Fiala has now recorded 20 multi-point games this season, tied for the most among Kings skaters with Adrian Kempe. This season marks the third time in his career he has recorded 20 or more such efforts in one campaign (22x in 2022-23 and 23x in 2021-22). Since his debut with the Kings in 2022-23, Fiala’s 42 multi-point games lead all Kings skaters.
– Drew Doughty (1-1=2) notched his 15th goal and 33rd assist of the season for his ninth multi-point game of the campaign, moving him one tally shy of tying his career high of 16 set in 2009-10. Doughty’s goal marked his 80th career goal on the man-advantage to become the 26th blueliner in NHL history to record at least 80 power-play goals. Doughty has now recorded six points (3-3=6) over his last five games against the Canucks. Doughty also passed Charlie Simmer (79) for sole possession of the eighth-most power-play goals in Kings history.
– Alex Laferriere (1-0=1) tipped home his 12th goal of the season for his first career point against the Vancouver Canucks.
– Trevor Moore (1-0=1) scored his team-leading 30th goal of the season, marking his first career 30-goal season. Per NHL PR, the 2023-24 season is the fourth in NHL history to feature multiple California-born players to score 30 goals – Auston Matthews and Jason Robertson have combined for the other three instances (2022-23, 2021-22 & 2017-18). Moore becomes just the seventh different undrafted skater in Kings history to record a 30-goal season with the team and becomes the first to do so since Wayne Gretzky (38G) in 1993-94.
– Anže Kopitar (0-2=2) picked up his 41st and 42nd assists of the season for his 300th career multi-point game, joining Marcel Dionne (392) and Luc Robitaille (321) as the only skaters in franchise history with as many multi-point outings.
– Kopitar’s pair of helpers marked the 789th and 790th assists and the 1,209th point of Kopitar’s career (419-790=1,209), surpassing Peter Stastny (789A) for the 37th-most assists in league history and tying Bernie Nicholls (475-734=1,209) for the 49th-most points in league history.
– Viktor Arvidsson (0-1=1) registered his seventh assist of the season to pick up helpers in back-to-back games against Vancouver (0-1=1; Mar. 25, 2024).
– Mikey Anderson (0-1=1) and Jordan Spence (0-1=1) each notched assists. Anderson’s helper was the 16th of the season, setting a new single-season career high (15A in 2022-23).
– Cam Talbot stopped a season-high 39 of 42 shots to improve his record to 25-18-6 on the campaign.

The Kings have an off day tomorrow and will return to the ice on Monday, April 8 for practice at 11 AM at Toyota Sports Performance Center.

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