FINAL – Kings 7, Bruins 2 – Foegele, Kempe, Hiller

The LA Kings set a franchise record as they collected a point in their 14th consecutive home game, skating to a 7-2 victory over the Boston Bruins on Sunday evening at Crypto.com Arena.

Just 19 seconds into the game, Boston opened the scoring with a goal off the extended opening faceoff sequence. After the Bruins worked the puck into the offensive zone, the Kings lost forward Elias Lindholm in front of the net and the Swede collected a pass from forward Cole Koepke, alone in front of Kings goaltender Darcy Kuemper, where he slotted home his 13th goal of the season for an early 1-0 advantage.

The Kings pushed back, however, as forwards Anze Kopitar and Adrian Kempe connected on a dazzling goal to level the score. Working down the right wing, Kempe hit Kopitar with a cross-ice pass in stride, with Kopitar gaining a step behind the Boston defensemen. Kopitar deked onto his backhand and calmly slotted his shot past Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman for his 18th goal of the season, tying the game at one in the process.

Inside 30 seconds remaining in the opening period, the hosts pulled ahead for the first time in the game. Forward Trevor Lewis, returning to the lineup for the first time since March 5, sent the puck around the wall in the offensive zone, directly to forward Phillip Danault below the goal line. Danault fed linemate Warren Foegele in front for a slam-dunk finish, giving him 20 goals now in consecutive seasons and 100 for his NHL career, as the Kings took a 2-1 lead into the first intermission.

Boston equalized just over two minutes into the second period, however, as the Bruins took advantage of a Kings turnover at the defensive blue line. After Foegele lost the puck before clearing the defensive zone, forward Pavel Zacha fed forward Morgan Geekie alone in front of the net. Kuemper attempted a poke check but Geekie shot quickly, scoring high on the glove side to equalize the score at two goals apiece.

Los Angeles bounced back, however, as defenseman Drew Doughty pulled the hosts back on top. After forward Quinton Byfield won a faceoff in the offensive zone, the puck was drawn back to defenseman Mikey Anderson at the left point. Anderson’s shot on goal was saved by Swayman but Doughty crashed the net and buried the rebound first time for his third goal of the season and a 3-2 lead.

As the second period wound down, the Kings made it 4-2 as forward Andrei Kuzmenko found the back of the net for the second straight game, doubling his team’s lead at the second intermission. Defenseman Jordan Spence intentionally iced the puck, knowing Kempe would win the race, before the Swedish winger fed Kuzmenko in front for the goal, his second as a King and eighth in total this season between Los Angeles, Calgary and Philadelphia.

Just over four minutes into the third period, the Kings made it a 5-2 game courtesy of Byfield. After taking a pass from forward Kevin Fiala, Byfield led a 2-on-1 rush into the offensive zone. Using Alex Laferriere as a decoy, Byfield confidently kept the puck himself and beat Swayman clean with a shot that went underneath the crossbar and in for his 19th goal of the season and a three-goal lead.

The fourth line got in on the action later in the third period, as they made it three straight games with a goal. After forwards Tanner Jeannot and Samuel Helenius worked the puck free on a heavy forecheck, Helenius fed defenseman Joel Edmundson at the left point. Edmundson went across the blueline to his partner, Brandt Clarke, who shot towards the net, with Jeannot getting the deflection for the goal, his second in as many days.

After he had the third assist on the Jeannot goal, Helenius worked his way onto the statsheet as the Kings hit seven goals for the second straight game. Edmundson, stationed at the center point, dished the puck to Helenius on his left. The 6-6 centerman moved towards the net and beat Swayman clean with a wrist shot for his second career NHL goal and a 7-2 lead.

Hear from Kempe, Foegele and Head Coach Jim Hiller following tonight’s victory.

Warren Foegele

Adrian Kempe
On scoring 14 goals over the last two games
It’s hard to say. One week, we don’t get that many and then they all come at once. I mean, it’s nice for everybody’s confidence, all the lines, all the D, everybody’s going, obviously feels good in the locker room. Yeah, it’s two games, you never know what’s gonna happen next game. We’ve been creative, maybe the bounces we get now we didn’t get earlier in the season, that’s just how hockey is. I think the confidence is really good at home and we build off that, so it’s been a good homestand so far.

On the impact Andrei Kuzmenko is making on his line right now
Yeah, for sure. Ever since he came, we’ve liked playing with him. He makes a lot of plays, just kind of trying to understand him a little bit more on the ice with the plays he makes and same for him, coming in and playing with a completely new team, I think he has been doing a really good job. He communicates a lot, that helps when you’re out there. Well deserved, getting couple goals for him, I think having a lot of chances.

On if he has just come to expect this level from Quinton Byfield
I think he’s still getting better and better. You know where the ceiling is, but I think this is as good as we’ve seen him play and he’s such a huge and important player for us. If he can bring this as consistent as possible, as often as possible, I think it’s going to be huge for us moving forward, especially for the playoffs too. When you have the size and the speed, the way they play is, it’s fun to watch.

On the 14-game home point streak and what makes this team so good on home ice
Yeah, it’s tough to say. Like I said, confidence, just coming into every game, we feel like we are confident, we have good chance to win every game. I think I’ve said this before, but when we’re down one or two goals, we feel like we have good enough chances, crowd is always buzzing and we always find a way which is important. Especially this season, it’s been different than any other season, I think, at home. It’s a really good thing and hopefully with the remaining remaining games at home and on the road, we can start playing a little bit better there as well.

Jim Hiller
On the team setting a new franchise record for consecutive home games with a point
That one, it’s impressive, there’s no question and one I think we share with everybody, with our fans, with the city. That’s what I think we’re proud about. That’s us, that’s all of us. We go on the road, you see some Kings jerseys in the stands, they’re cheering you on, it’s great to have them, but here, this is us. So, I think we should all be pretty proud of that, not just the players, but the fans as well.

On the notion of the team buying into what he is preaching as the Head Coach
When we win I do, when we lose I don’t, it goes up and down, but I think we’ve talked about it, we’re a pretty good chunk of the season in and I think we’ve shown pretty good consistency. We scored 14 this weekend. Where were they in January when we had zeros and ones and we couldn’t score and what’s the problem and all that kind of stuff. I don’t think we have that many chances tonight or last night, so if you just say chance wise, over that same stretch, we might have had over four or five games an equivalent number of chances and we scored three or four goals, it didn’t feel good and all of a sudden you get 14. So that’s why, during that stretch, when we talked about it, we were careful not to overreact to that, because the guys have shown us they’re playing hard, they care, trying to do what they can and sometimes it just does not go in. Right now, it’s just going in, so we’re happy to get that re-balance.

On what his thoughts were when he saw Darcy Kuemper charging to center ice
I was thinking somebody should have grabbed him, that’s what I really wanted. I’m glad it turned out the way it did, which means nobody got into any anything that they shouldn’t have. Pretty late in the season for that, for all the bad things that might happen. Nobody wants to see that…..well, I shouldn’t say that, the fans do, but I’m sure neither team’s coaches want to see that, because those are some pretty important players, you don’t want them busting up hands or anything like that. They’re not as agile as the players are, so I think it’s a little easier for the referees to get ahold of those guys, and I’m glad they did.

On Warren Foegele reaching three separate milestones in tonight’s victory
He should buy a lottery ticket tonight after that, right? Yeah, I was just told that too. I knew he had 100 goals, I knew he had 500 games, but his 20th as well. He’s been excellent, he really has, and he’s been excellent and getting better, so that’s really where I’m encouraged. He had a couple tracks tonight too, where he came back, broke plays up. He’s just a really good player.

On keeping the fourth line together, even with Trevor Moore unable to play tonight
They’ve played so well together, we thought why would we take them apart. They’ve had a lot of chemistry, they add something, they’ve added something every night. They’ve scored now, but even the nights they haven’t scored, they’ve been pinning teams in their zone, they’ve been physical, they really have something going together. So yeah, that was the thought that went into that for sure.

On the notion of physicality in tonight’s game
I thought they bumped us around early to be honest with you. I thought they had the more physicality early. I think part of our physicality is, we’re bigger and stronger this year for sure and you get that fourth line out there and they’re taking a piece of people, but I think, and I don’t want to speak for them, but I think the physical part of the game for us was our puck battles. We put the puck in a lot and we had long shifts because we just kept lifting the D’s stick or we got there, we arrived, they had to put them around the boards and we won the next battle. I thought probably puck battles tonight in the offensive zone was probably our strongest game of the year in that regard. We really had the puck.

Notes –
• Captain Anze Kopitar (1-0=1) scored his 18th goal of the season, his eighth career tally against the Bruins, breaking a tie with Bobby Ryan for sole possession of the third-most goals against the Bruins by a skater selected in the 2005 NHL Draft. Kopitar has now recorded six points (3-3=6) over his last six home games, dating to March 8.
• Kopitar’s 18th goal of the year marked the 1,267th point (437-830=1,267) point of his career, tying Jean Ratelle (491-776=1,267) for the 41st-most points in NHL history.
• Forward Warren Foegele (1-0=1) scored his 20th goal of the season for the 100th tally of his NHL career. Foegele’s goal came in his 500th career NHL game, becoming the 13th different skater in Kings history to score a goal in his 500th career game. Foegele joins Alex Tuch, Jared McCann, Nikolaj Ehlers, Dylan Larkin and Leon Draisaitl as the only forwards selected in the 2014 NHL Draft to score a goal in their 500th NHL game.
• Defenseman Drew Doughty (1-0=1) scored his third goal for his 12th point of the season. Doughty (159G) now sits two goals shy of tying Rob Blake (161G) for first amongst all Kings defenseman in franchise history and ties Bob Berry (159G) for 16th all-time amongst all Kings skaters in the history of the franchise.
• Forward Andrei Kuzmenko (1-0=1) scored his eighth goal of the season and now has tallies in back-to-back games for the first time as a King.
• Forward Quinton Byfield (1-1=2) picked up his 25th assist and 19th goal of the season, extending his home point streak to a ninth game (7-7=14). Byfield’s 14 points (7-7=14) in his last nine games at Crypto.com Arena are the most by a Kings skater aged 23 years of age or younger since Tyler Toffoli over a decade ago (Oct. 12 – Nov. 13, 2014; 5-9=14).
• With the Kings’ fifth tally of the evening, Byfield extended his home goal streak to seven games, tied for the third longest in Kings history behind only Luc Robitaille (12 GP from Nov. 11 – Dec. 30, 1989) and Jari Kurri (9 GP from Nov. 3 – Dec. 11, 1993).
• Forward Tanner Jeannot (1-1=2) scored his seventh goal of the season and picked up his sixth assist. This is Jeannot’s first two-game goal streak this season, and his first career instance of recording multi-point games in back-to-back efforts (1-1=2; March 22 vs. CAR).
• Forward Samuel Helenius (1-0=1) scored his second goal of the season for his second point in as many nights. The goal marks the first of his career against the Bruins and the first time he has notched a point in back-to-back games.
• Forward Adrian Kempe (0-2=2) recorded his 28th and 29th assists for his 57th and 58th points of the season. With the 386th point of his career, Kempe (188-198=386) passes Jared McCann (179-206=385) for 10th in points amongst players drafted in 2014 and breaks a tie with Viktor Arvidsson (189-195=384) for second amongst those same drafted players of a Swedish nationality.

The Kings have a scheduled team day off tomorrow. The team will return to the ice on Tuesday for morning skate in advance of that evening’s game against the New York Rangers.