FINAL – Kings 7, Hurricanes 2 – Kuzmenko, Jeannot, Hiller

The LA Kings made it seven wins from their last eight games played, as they skated to a convincing 7-2 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday afternoon at Crypto.com Arena.

The hosts jumped out to an early lead through forward Adrian Kempe, who picked up his team-leading 29th goal of the season to open the scoring. Skating through the neutral zone with speed, Kempe collected a pass from forward Samuel Helenius in stride, working his way into the offensive zone with possession. Kempe picked his spot and beat Carolina goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov with a wrist shot to get the hosts on the board 3:03 into the game.

With just over five minutes remaining in the opening period, the Kings doubled their lead as the power play converted for the fourth time in seven games. Forward Andrei Kuemznko made a good pass behind the goal line to forward Anze Kopitar, stationed to the left of Kochetkov. Kopitar then tried to pick out Kempe in the low slot and the pass deflected off a Carolina defenseman and into the back of the net, giving the Kings a two-goal lead.

Inside the final five seconds of the first period, Los Angeles made it 3-0 as Kuzmenko buried his first goal as a member of the Kings. Skating in transition, Kopitar chipped the puck around a pair of Hurricanes, springing Kuzmenko into the offensive zone 1-on-1. From the right hand circle, he pulled the puck onto his forehand and beat Kochetkov clean on the blocker side to make it 3-0 heading into the first intermission.

Just shy of six minutes into the second period, the Kings found their fourth goal of the afternoon, with forward Trevor Moore getting in on the action. After forward Warren Foegele made an interception in the defensive zone, he took it the other way and hit Phillip Danault just inside the offensive blueline. Danault found Moore in the slot and he buried his shot, crossbar and in, for his second goal in as many games and a 4-0 lead.

For the second straight game, the fourth line contributed offensively as forward Tanner Jeannot made it 5-0 Kings. After winning the puck back on the forecheck, forward Alex Turcotte collected a deflected puck in the slot and fed Jeannot, who one-timed the pass into the back of the net for his sixth goal of the season. Both Jeannot and Turcotte made it points in back-to-back games by connecting on the goal.

Less than two minutes later, forward Quinton Byfield made it goals for all four forward lines, as he collected his seventh goal in his last nine games. After Byfield’s initial shot was stopped by Kochetkov, forward Kevin Fiala won the puck back in the low slot and fed Byfield at the back post, where he buried from close range for his 18th goal of the season, putting the Kings ahead 6-0.

Later in the second period, Carolina got on the board with a goal from defenseman Dmitry Orlov. After winning a faceoff in the offensive zone, the Hurricanes gained possession and cycled the puck around the perimeter, before defenseman Jaden Chatfield fed his partner, Orlov, at the center point for a one-timer, which beat traffic and Kings netminder David Rittich for his fifth goal of the season, cutting the deficit to 6-1.

Inside the final two minutes of the game, Fiala made it a multi-point game as he scored with just 1:57 left on the clock. Forward Alex Laferriere worked his way into the offensive zone, spun onto his forehand and fed Fiala for a one-timer, which he buried past Kochetkov on the glove side for his 26th goal of the season. With the primary helper, Laferriere made it all 12 Kings forwards with a point in the game.

Just eight seconds after Fiala’s goal, Carolina forward Mark Jankowski completed the scoring for the game, as he collected a late consolation goal, his ninth of the season, to bring us to the final score of 7-2 Los Angeles.

Hear from Kuzmenko, Jeannot and Head Coach Jim Hiller following today’s victory.

Andrei Kuzmenko

Tanner Jeannot
On his impressions from today’s victory
I think that we were able to dig in and put in a pretty good 60 minutes today. They came out hard, just like we were expecting, a couple turnovers in the neutral zone early and they were coming at us. So, we adjusted, we started getting pucks deep and we got some rubber than that. We were fortunate to have some pucks go in.

On his goal and how he saw it develop
We did what we do. We get the puck deep and Turc had a good battle there to get it back up to the point. Dewey got a shot through, it kind of hit me and got a good bounce back to Turc, just kind of flared out and he gave me a nice pass and I had a pretty wide open net to put it in. It was a good goal.

On seeing all 12 forwards collected at least one point in the victory
Yeah, I think you’d take that every night if you could, everyone kind of chipping in like that. Obviously, it’s not going to happen that way, but I thought everyone put in the work today and everyone got rewarded, so that’s good./

On the development and evolution of his line with Alex Turcotte and Samuel Helenius
I think we talked about that pre-game too, we’ve just been building as a line. I thought we played really well, getting pucks deep and setting up momentum for the next shift to come out there. We finally have been getting rewarded a little bit, so we’ve just got to kind of keep building and keep doing the same things and that success is going to come.

Jim Hiller
On seeing all 12 forwards collect a point in today’s victory
We’d like to, I look at it as all four lines, for sure. I just saw the stat, that everybody got a point, I didn’t even recognize that prior, but all four lines contributed for sure. I thought it was really important for Kopi’s line to get on the board like they did. If there was one goal that I thought was the most important goal, it was Kuzy’s goal at the end of the first.

On not just the quantity of the goals today, but the quality of them
I think there were a couple scrambles that we found the back door, but I thought that [what was] impressive were the shots that beat the goalie from the outside. Again, we’re talking about Mooresie scoring all those goals last year with that shot and now it looks like, bar and in, we’re seeing that pretty often from him, maybe just getting a little confidence with it. Juice’s was a great shot, I thought Kuzmenko’s was a great shot, so I think it was the quality of the shots more so than the breakdowns necessarily from Carolina.

On Andrei Kuzmenko’s game and seeing him get on the scoresheet with a goal and an assist
We’ve been telling him that he’s been close and it sounds good, the coach tells you good job if you’re close, don’t worry about it, but it sure [would feel] a heck of a lot better to actually score one, get an assist and get actually on the board. Hopefully it’s a springboard for not only him, but I think that line. I think that line hasn’t scored as much as they would like to. They get all three in the first, right, so that was important for Kuzy, but that line together.

On the importance of David Rittich today, despite scoring seven goals
I liked the goalie, I thought Rittich was really, really good. Did he get a star? He would have been one of my three for sure. That’s just me. So, yeah, he was a really important player, probably the most important player.

On seeing his team get seven goals tonight, against the narrative that the Kings “can’t score”
I don’t know if we can’t score. We’ve had difficulty scoring it for stretches, right, I think that’s maybe a better way to put it. If you look at some of the goals, you’d say those guys can score goals, it’s just a matter of feeling good. Then we talked about those guys, Mooresie hadn’t felt good for most of the season, clearly he’s feeling it. You guys would know the numbers, but h’s got six, seven or eight in the last three weeks maybe, I don’t know, but big time goals. Just coming together for him at the right time and we’ll take it.

On not just scoring seven, but doing it against a contender like Carolina
I think it’s a fair comment. Those teams are, well, you can see it, I think you can probably see it yourself, like they were coming, that’s a good team. Without David, they could have got six or seven themselves. I think the one thing that does for our team, though, this is an unfortunate observation that I have, is we seem to rise to that level when we’re pressed to do it. That’s when we’re at our best.

Notes –
• Forward Andrei Kuzmenko (1-1=2) scored his seventh goal of the season and picked up his 15th assist of the campaign, his first points since being acquired by the Kings earlier this month. Kuzmenko joins Vladimir Tkachev (0-2=2) as the only undrafted Russian-born skaters in franchise history to record a multi-point game.
• Kuzmenko becomes just the fourth undrafted Russian-born skater in NHL history to record three or more 15-assist seasons.
• Captain Anze Kopitar (1-1=2) netted his 17th goal of the season and 124th career power-play goal, surpassing Dave Taylor (123) to for third all-time on the Kings’ franchise power-play goals list. Kopitar also added an assist for his 38th of this campaign and a total of 55 points (17-38=55) on the season.
• The captain recorded his 150th career multi-point period, which mark the 10th most in NHL history by a player born outside North America. The only other active players with as many are Alex Ovechkin (200) and Evgeni Malkin (181)
• Forward Tanner Jeannot (1-1=2) scored his sixth goal and collected his fifth assist for his second multi-point effort of this season
• Forward Kevin Fiala (1-1=2) scored his 26th goal and tallied his 21st assist of the season for his 14th point in 16 games played against the Hurricanes.
• Forward Quinton Byfield (1-1=2) scored his 18th goal and picked up his 24th assist of the season. Byfield has now scored seven goals (7-1=8) over his last nine games, and four points (1-2=4) over his last two games against the Hurricanes, dating back to Feb. 1, 2025. Byfield joins Luc Robitaille (3GP, 5-2=7; Nov. 10, 1988 – Jan. 21, 1989) as the only Kings skaters under the age of 23 to record consecutive multi-point games against the Hurricanes in a season. Forward Trevor Moore (1-0=1) scored his 15th goal of the season, extending his goal streak against the Hurricanes to a fourth game (5-0=5), dating back to Oct. 14, 2023. Moore becomes the 10th undrafted skater in Kings history to record three 15-goal campaigns.
• Forward Adrian Kempe (1-0=1) scored his team-leading 29th goal of the season, surpassing his goal-total from the 2023-24 campaign and putting him within one goal of clinching his third career 30-goal season. The tally also marked Kempe’s 384th point of his career (188-196=384), breaking a tie with Jeff Carter (194-189=383) for the 14th most points scored in franchise history.
• Defenseman Drew Doughty (0-2=2) tallied two assists for his 10th and 11th points of the campaign (2-9=11), marking his 130th career multi-point effort. Doughty’s first period power play helper clinches his 17th consecutive double-digit point season and ties Dustin Brown for second most seasons of 10 or more points in franchise history behind only Anze Kopitar (19). Since his NHL debut in 2008-09, Doughty’s 130 career multi-point games are enough for eighth most in that time frame among defensemen, sitting only one game behind Vegas’ Alex Pietrangelo.

The Kings are not scheduled to hold a morning skate tomorrow. The team will return to the ice tomorrow evening against the Boston Bruins at 6 PM at Crypto.com Arena.