FINAL – Kings 2, Panthers 1 – Helenius, Fiala, Hiller

The LA Kings bounced back from Monday’s defeat against Pittsburgh with a come-from-behind, 2-1 victory over the Florida Panthers on Wednesday evening at Crypto.com Arena.

After a first period that saw neither team find the back of the net, the Panthers opened the scoring in the second period, with the lone goal through 40 minutes.

Skating on their second power play of the evening, a shot from forward Mackie Samoskevich took a hard bounce off the end boards, into the low slot, where forward Anton Lundell deflected the puck to forward Evan Rodrigues at the back post for the slam-dunk goal. The goal for Rodrigues was his 11th of the season, as the NHL’s top-ranked road power play got the Panthers on the board.

It took more than 40 minutes to get on the board, but the Kings finally tied the game through forward Samuel Helenius, who scored his first career NHL goal just shy of seven minutes into the third period, equalizing the score at 1-1. Helenius drove the net and after forward Tanner Jeannot poked a puck free inside the crease, Helenius calmly slotted home the rebound for his first with the Kings, tying the game in the process.

Midway through the third period, the Kings found the emphatic game-winning goal through their leading goalscorer, Adrian Kempe. After a nice play by defenseman Brandt Clarke, he worked the puck to forward Kevin Fiala, who was covering at the right point. Fiala got a shot towards the net, deflected by Kempe on the way through, past Florida goaltender Spencer Knight and in for the go-ahead goal.

Hear from Helenius, Fiala and Head Coach Jim Hiller following tonight’s victory.

Samuel Helenius

Kevin Fiala
On the team coming back in the third period and getting the victory
That was a big third. One down, we didn’t have much, they didn’t give us much, we just kept grinding and shooting pucks to the net. We had a guy in front all the time, I felt like we tried, and I think we deserved it.

On the simple nature of how the team scored both goals tonight
Yeah, exactly. I think it was like a playoff game out there and I don’t think in playoffs there’s so many nice plays to be made. Today, like I said before, it was a tight game, they were on top of us, so you have to simplify things and we got the job done.

On getting the response game from Monday’s loss to Pittsburgh
It was important. Obviously that was not the game we wanted. Honestly, I think we forgot about it and we had a good jump from the start here and played a good team. We played 60 minutes.

On moving up with Kopitar/Kempe in the third period
I just go wherever [Jim Hiller] puts me. I think no matter where I go, we scored our goal because I thought we had some good chances, when I played with them. It was nice to play with them, but it’s just a good win.

On taking advantage of tired legs on the other side in the third period
They had a back-to-back, so put the pucks behind them. They were a little tired and we went at them hard, good forechecks, we stayed above them, didn’t give them much the whole game, I felt like. They’re a great team, obviously, so I’m very proud of the team and how we responded in the third.

Jim Hiller
On getting both goals by making simple, direct plays
It’s really the recipe most nights. When you’re playing the defending Stanley Cup champions, I mean, what else was out there? Did anybody? Mooresie missed one, we had one in the front, Mooresie missed it at the end, wasn’t much else out there. There’s just not. That’s just the way the hockey gets and they know how to play, they won the cup and they make it hard on you. That’s all you’re going to get. I was happy that we ended up there and Clarkie made a great play, Juice is the guy who scored the goal, well where did he get that one from? Right in front of the goal. He’s a good example for us that way too because he scores our nicest goals and also knows where you have to score to get the greasy one.

On seeing Samuel Helenius get his first career goal in the NHL
There’s few things that are better than seeing a guy score his first goal. It’s just a special moment. You work long and hard to get to the NHL and then get to score a goal, it’s pretty cool. I don’t think anybody expected Sammy to be scoring his first NHL goal this season, you know what I mean? So, it’s kind of extra special. He had a great summer, finished the season strong in Ontario last year during playoffs, but no expectations for him to help us at all. So, all those things combined and you’re really happy for him.

On moving Kevin Fiala up with Kopitar and Kempe and getting rewarded with the GWG
We had talked about it in between periods, we were down one, we talked about putting Kevin with those guys. We don’t do that all the time, but it just felt like it was one of those nights it was so hard to create, we wanted to put those three together. On the faceoff, they were already 30 somewhat seconds into that shift and I really thought about bringing them off, but Kopi is a our best o-zone faceoff guy, got him a short blow, so fortunate decision on that one, I almost screwed it up.

On another strong showing from Darcy Kuemper and his consistency of late
I’d have to think back to when he wasn’t consistent this year. I guess I would say the two times he took a little break for injury, kind of got him out of his rotation, but it’s been a long time, hasn’t it? He’s just played very, very well. I think coming back to the Kings, being here, good relationship with some of the guys. Kopi and Drew really had a lot of respect for him. They were telling me in the summer that this is a great guy, this is an awesome move and this was before he made a save for us. I think the fit’s worked out really well, happy to see him back on the top of his game.

On going with 12 forwards and 6 defensemen tonight for the first time since November
It was fine, but it was interesting, because right before the game started, I was saying to the guys, okay, who am I doubling up tonight, what’s my order, but easy night for me, I didn’t think here tonight. It was good, Akil was good, fourth line was good, worked out just fine. I wanted to get Akil in and I wanted a big, strong line in Sammy, Lewie and Jeanno.

Notes –
• Forward Samuel Helenius (1-0=1) scored his first career NHL goal to tie the game at one apiece, becoming the 14th player of Finnish nationality to score a goal for the Kings. The 22-year-old is the second player selected in the 2021 NHL Draft to score a goal for the Kings, joining defenseman Brandt Clarke.
• Forward Adrian Kempe (1-0=1) scored his 24th goal of the season, extending his goal- and point-streak to a fourth game (4-1=5), dating back to Jan. 16. This streak is the fifth time in Kempe’s career that he has found the back of the net in four consecutive appearances and marks his second such streak this season (4-2=6; Dec. 29, 2024 – Jan. 10, 2025). Including the separate quartets of consecutive goals, the 28-year-old has scored 11 points (8-3=11) over his last ten games.
• With his third period tally standing as the game-winner, marking his 30th career game-winning goal to pass Rob Blake for eighth most in Kings history.
• Defenseman Jordan Spence (0-1=1) picked up his 13th assist of the season, extending his point streak to a career-best third game (1-2=3), dating back to Jan. 18, 2025.
• Defenseman Brandt Clarke (0-1=1) collected his 21st assist of the season, breaking his tie with Kempe for the second most assists on the team. Clarke (3-21=24) ties Owen Power (6-18=24) for the most points scored by a defenseman taken in the 2021 NHL Draft.
• Forward Tanner Jeannot (0-1=1) registered his fourth assist of the season for his ninth point (5-4=9) of the campaign. The assist marks Jeannot’s fifth career point (2-3=5) against the Florida Panthers in eight contests.
• Forward Kevin Fiala (0-1=1) picked up his 11th assist of the season, extending his point-streak against Florida to a third game (1- 3=4), dating back to Nov. 16, 2023. Fiala’s 26 points tie Alex Laferriere for the third most amongst Kings skaters this season.
• Forward Anze Kopitar played in his 1,418th regular season game this evening, passing defenseman Luke Richardson (1,417) for sole possession of the 37th most in NHL history.
• Goaltender Darcy Kuemper turned aside 26 of 27 shots to collect his 14th win of season and improve his record to 14-4-5 on the season. Kuemper has only allowed one goal or less in his last six of seven starts.
• Per NHL PR, the Kings improved to 15-3-1 at home this season and established their fastest pace to 15 home wins in a campaign. The previous mark of 20 games was set in 2012-13.

The Kings are scheduled to travel to Columbus tomorrow and will not practice. The team will return to the ice on Friday, January 24 for practice at Nationwide Arena.