FINAL – Kings 2, Penguins 3 (OT) – Gavrikov, Kempe, Hiller

The LA Kings collected their fifth point of the current roadtrip, but fell to 0-4 in overtime this season, following a 3-2 overtime loss against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday evening at PPG Paints Arena.

Just 33 seconds into the first period, on the opening shift of the game, the Kings opened the scoring as their top line connected once again. After sustaining the puck in the offensive zone, forward Anze Kopitar fed forward Adrian Kempe in front of the net, with the Swedish winger burying from close range for an early 1-0 lead. Kempe’s goal was his eighth in his last four games played versus Pittsburgh and his team-leading 16th of the 2024-25 season.

Pittsburgh tied the game on a bit of an awkward goal in the second period. Forward Michael Bunting took a feed exiting the zone from forward Bryan Rust, creating a 2-on-1 rush the other way. Bunting got the puck on net with a backhanded effort, somewhere between a pass and a shot, which went through to forward Evgeni Malkin at the back post, who deflected it in to equalize the game at 1-1.

Midway through the second period, the top forward line struck again, this time through forward Alex Turcotte. Turcotte got a step behind his defenseman and collected a pass off the boards in stride from defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov. Moving in on a partial breakaway, Turcotte picked his spot, high on the glove side, and beat Pittsburgh netminder Alex Nedeljkovic for his fourth goal of the season and a 2-1 lead.

The hosts tied the game with just over five and a half minutes remaining in the third period, eventually sending the game into overtime. After a surge throughout the third, defenseman Matt Grzelcyk activated from the point, uncovered in the slot, and snapped a shot past Kings netminder Darcy Kuemper for the game-tying goal, his first of the season.

In the extra session, forward Rickard Rakell won the game for the Penguins, giving the extra point to Pittsburgh. Rakell drove towards the net and used a high-level deflection, between his legs, to redirect an Erik Karlsson point shot past Kuemper and in for the game-winning goal.

Hear from Gavrikov, Kempe and Head Coach Jim Hiller following tonight’s game.

Vladislav Gavrikov

Adrian Kempe
On his takeaways from tonight’s game
Tight game, kind of like the Jersey game, a little back and forth, I think. I thought, up 2-1 with whatever it was, six minutes left, obviously it’s frustrating when you don’t come away with two points. Darce played the one hell of a game back there, kept us in it today, so all credit to him. Take the one point, I guess, and move on.

On giving up too many high-danger chances, but the strong play of Darcy Kuemper
He was standing on his head a couple of times. They’re good team, have good players. I think we were a couple times a little unlucky. Tried to make the right play, ended up being on their stick instead, so it’s frustrating when that happens. [Kuemper] saved us many times. On the other side of that, I think we had some chances for as well, so it could have gone either way. Overall, maybe not our best game.

On finding a way to get into overtime, after conceding that game-tying goal
It’s tough when momentum changes that late in the game. They’ve got all the momentum and the confidence going, but I think we stuck through it, tried to keep it simple and tried to get it to OT, not doing anything stupid out there, just try to keep it simple. Overtime, 3-on-3, it can go either way. We had a breakaway, Gavy could have scored on that one, but it was unlucky, and then it ended up with a tip goal that maybe wasn’t anything that we were worried about before. Yeah, it’s just tough.

On Alex Turcotte’s goal and the confidence he’s playing with
Yeah, it’s great. I’m trying to help him be as comfortable as he can playing alongside us. I know when I was younger, I came up playing with older guys, it can be a little nervous and all that kind of stuff, but he’s been really good. Trying to get him to be as comfortable as he can on the wing there, making plays and all that kind of stuff. He been great over the last couple of weeks, whether it’s been with us or not with us. Love to keep that going.

Jim Hiller
On the sentiment in the room of not having their best game tonight
Yeah, not good enough, clearly. Third periods have been our best, I think, that’s been the trend anyways, for a while and it was not tonight. We relied on Darcy way too much. They got some energy with the second goal, they tied it, they had a lot of chances, too many.

On what was lacking tonight from the one-goal leads the Kings have closed out
We just weren’t sharp. I don’t know what the right word is, for m it’s sharp. We just weren’t executing, puck was bouncing on us. We still had some chances in the third to score ourselves, maybe to get a two-goal lead at some point. Again, we just weren’t sharp on those chances, just like we were sharp in our own end.

On Darcy Kuemper’s play to ensure the team collected a point
Yeah, he did a great job. Did a great job. They could have had three easy, maybe four in the third period and again, we could have had a couple for sure, too, but he kept us in it, I guess, in some respects. It’s just a disappointing way to end it and we’ll put it behind us and move on.

On a confident Alex Turcotte and the goal he scored tonight
Great goal. The other night, it was a pass across for a one timer up high like that, the goalie wasn’t in the net. Tonight, he just beat him on his own in stride. It’s a goalscorers goal. We love to see it come from a guy like Turc. We’ve got a couple more like that, I’m sure he will and a couple other guys will get the same chance to bury.

Notes –
• Forward Adrian Kempe (1-0=1) found the back of the net 33 seconds into the contest to record his seventh point (4- 3=7) in his last five appearances. The goal marks Kempe’s eighth goal against the Penguins in his last four games against the club, dating back to Feb. 11, 2023. Kempe becomes just the seventh player in NHL history to pot as many against Pittsburgh in a four-game span, the first since Tony Granato (8G) in 1988-89.
• The tally marks Kempe’s second goal in the opening minute of a game this season, which is tied with Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl for the most among all players, per NHL PR.
• On the heels of registering his first career point against the Rangers on Saturday afternoon, forward Alex Turcotte (1-0=1) broke the 1-1 stalemate in the second period with his first career point against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
• Forward Anze Kopitar (0-1=1) collected his seventh assist in as many appearances, pushing his team lead in the category to 27.
• Defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov (0-2=2) registered his 10th and 11th assist of the season, becoming the seventh Kings skater to reach double digits in the category. Tonight’s contest marks his third multi-point effort of the season. • Defenseman Jordan Spence (0-1=1) collected his seventh helper of the season, his second point against Pittsburgh
in as many career appearances.
• Per NHL PR, Sidney Crosby (7-14=21) and Anze Kopitar (7-14=21) met for the 22nd time since both were selected
in the first round of the 2005 NHL Draft. The players have identical stat lines against each other in their career, but Kopitar has the edge when it comes to overall record (LAK: 12-5-4; PIT: 9-9-3).

The Kings are scheduled to practice at noon local time, 9 AM Eastern, tomorrow in Philadelphia, in advance of Thursday’s game versus the Flyers.