FINAL – Kings 2, Kraken 4 – Clarke, Danault, Hiller

The LA Kings completed a five-game roadtrip with a record of 2-3-0, following a 4-2 defeat against the Seattle Kraken on Saturday evening at Climate Pledge Arena.

One game after the Kings scored on the first shift of the game, Seattle accomplished the feat tonight, getting on the board just 28 seconds into the opening period. After the Kings were unable to clear the zone, a turnover gave Seattle the chance to reload. Forward Kaapo Kakko fed forward Jaden Schawrtz in the slot, where he hammered a shot past Kings goaltender Darcy Kuemper for his team-leading 14th goal of the season and a 1-0 lead.

The Kings equalized on their first power play of the night, tying the game at one goal apiece. The Kings used a sequence of quick and accurate passes to set up the chance, with Kevin Fiala feeding the puck down low to Anze Kopitar, before the captain hit forward Adrian Kempe at the back post for the goal, his team-leading 22nd of the season, as the visitors scored a power-play goal for the second consecutive game.

Just over 90 seconds later, the Kraken restored their one-goal advantage as Schwartz scored his second goal of the game. After a hit laid on Kings forward Warren Foegele, multiple Kings went towards Seattle defenseman Jamie Oleksiak but play carried on in the other direction, leading to a 3-on-1 rush for Seattle. Forward Matty Beniers fed Schwartz in the low slot for the goal, putting the hosts ahead by a goal once again.

Inside the final two minutes of the first period, the Kings pulled level once again. Working the puck around the outside, forward Phillip Danault got it to defenseman Jordan Spence at the right point. Spence got a shot on net that got past Seattle goaltender Joey Daccord, who had been knocked down in the crease. Contact was initiated by Seattle defenseman Brandon Montour, however, and the goal stood, sending the game tied at two into the first intermission.

Again, the Kraken scored inside the first two minutes of a period as they opened up a 3-2 advantage just over 90 seconds into the second frame. Stationed on the right-hand boards, forward Oliver Bjorkstrand floated a puck towards the goal, with forward Chandler Stephenson driving the net and getting a deflection on the puck, past Kuemper and in, for his seventh goal of the season and a 3-2 lead.

The Kraken added an empty-net goal from Schwartz to complete the hat trick, bringing the game to the final score of 4-2.

Hear from Danault, defenseman Brandt Clarke and Head Coach Jim Hiller following tonight’s game.

Brandt Clarke

Phillip Danault
On his assessment of tonight’s game
We played hard today. They played well. Maybe we were snoozing a little bit at the beginning, but I mean we tried to fight back, played pretty good in third and got a couple more shots, we were more dangerous, but yeah, we dropped that one.

On if self-inflicted plays leading to goals against make that game more frustrating
Yeah, because we did it to ourselves a little bit. That’s also a good news though, we know when we play the right way, we can win almost every game. Sometimes it’s going to happen like that, but we did it to ourselves.

On what he felt the team did to push better in the third period
[We were] more aggressive, got pucks to the net, retrieved it. So that was pretty simple, but it worked.

On the 2-3-0 record as a whole and if he felt the team’s play exceeded that mark
Yeah, I thought we played some tight games in Calgary and Edmonton, could have went either way there too, so was Winnipeg, though. I mean, could have had a better record, but it’s okay, we get to go back home and then refresh and go back on the road again.

Jim Hiller
On his takeaways from the game tonight
Really poor start. We haven’t started like that probably it’s felt like six weeks. Goalie gave us a chance to try to just get us back in it and then we just couldn’t tie it up.

On the uncharacteristic defensive mistakes, especially in the first period tonight
Right. Well, I’ll cut them a little slack, it’s been about six weeks, you know what I mean? Yeah, we’re disappointed for sure, it’s nothing that we thought would happen, but it does happen in a long season. We gathered ourselves, we just weren’t sharp. Even once we gathered ourselves, we weren’t sharp.

On what he felt changed for the group in the third period
I think we just simplified a little bit. We didn’t have good execution, the puck was bouncing on us, our hands weren’t working. I think the second half, we just played a little bit simpler went in and forechecked, threw some pucks at the net. Some nights you have to do it that way when it’s not going for you. It took us too long to get there.

On skating Brandt Clarke at forward late in the game
I’ve thought about it for a while, so just wanted to see what it looked like. Like I said, we weren’t executing much and Clarkie’s a pretty good offensive player, so I just wanted to see what it looked like.

On the trip as a whole, with the record compared to the level of play
They were all good games, close games. I know the Vancouver game, the score wasn’t close but it felt close. I think the shots were even and I think play was pretty equal. I mean, we want to do better than that. It’s an unsuccessful road trip for us, so we have to just gather ourselves, get a rest and put it behind us. There’s more coming in two days from now.

Notes –
• Forward Adrian Kempe (1-0=1) scored his 22nd goal of the season, extending his goal streak against Seattle to a third game (3-0=3), dating back to April 3, 2024.
• Kempe becomes the first Kings skater to record a three-game goal streak against the Kraken, and is only the second Swedish- born player in league history to do so, joining Mika Zibanejad (3-2=5; Jan. 30, 2022 – Feb. 10, 2023).
• Defenseman Jordan Spence (1-0=1) tallied his third goal of the year, setting a new single-season career high in his 42nd appearance of the campaign.
• Forward Anze Kopitar (0-1=1) recorded his 30th assist of the season, becoming the 11th skater in NHL history to record 19 30-assist seasons, the second skater to clinch the feat this season, joining Sidney Crosby.
• The assist marked Kopitar’s 588th career road point (214-274=588) breaking a tie with Luc Robitaille (285-302=587) and tying Mike Gartner (307-281=588) for the 36th most in league history.
• Kopitar skated in his 712th career road game tonight, tying Pat Verbeek for the 35th most in NHL history.
• Forward Kevin Fiala (0-1=1) picked up his 10th helper of the year, becoming the fifth skater of Swiss nationality to reach double-digit assists in an NHL season eight times. With the assist, Fiala also extends his point streak against Seattle to a third game (1-3=4), dating back to April 3, 2024.
• Forward Phillip Danault (0-1=1) registered his 19th assist of the season, his second helper in as many visits to Climate Pledge Arena.
• Forward Trevor Moore (0-1=1) collected an assist on Spence’s goal for his 20th point (6-14=20) of the year, his fifth 20-point season as a member of the Kings. Moore becomes the eighth undrafted skater in franchise history to record five 20-point seasons and is just the second American-born skater to do so, joining Alex Iafallo (six times).

The Kings will travel home tonight, in advance of a team day off tomorrow. They will return to the ice on Monday at 10:30 AM for morning skate, in advance of hosting the Pittsburgh Penguins that evening at 7:30 PM.