FINAL – Kings 8, Sharks 1 – Kempe, Gavrikov, Hiller

The LA Kings scored a season-high eight goals, as they skated to an 8-1 victory over San Jose to end the weekend.

The Kings opened the scoring just seconds after a power play had expired, with forward Phillip Danault cashing in with his eighth goal of the season. Forward Quinton Byfield gathered the puck in the low slot and was composed, settling down the puck before finding Danault in the right-hand circle, where he one-timed his shot past San Jose netminder Georgi Romanov to put the hosts up 1-0.

On their second power play of the game, the Kings made it 2-0 with a goal just five seconds before the expiration. Forward Anze Kopitar took a collected route towards the net from the left wall, driving with composure, before he dished the puck into the low slot for forward Adrian Kempe, who scored from close range for his 30th goal of the season, the third time in his career he’s scored 30 goals, and a 2-0 lead.

The Sharks got on the board just shy of five minutes into the second period, cutting the Kings lead in half in the process. Defenseman Mario Ferraro got a shot on goal down the left wing, with Kings netminder David Rittich making the save through traffic, but forward Cam Lund got on the wrong side of his backchecker and buried the rebound from close range for his second goal in as many nights, making it a 2-1 game.

Just over two minutes after the San Jose goal, the Kings answered back through forward Trevor Moore. A good shift by the Kuzmenko-Kopitar-Kempe line kept possession of the puck in the offensive zone, before Kopitar fed Moore off the bench, with the California native skating towards the net and finishing with a shot along the ice for his 16th goal of the season, restoring the two-goal lead for Los Angeles.

Los Angeles made it multiple power-play goals for the second time in four games as forward Warren Foegele scored his first goal of the season on the man advantage. Defenseman Brandt Clarke got a shot through from the center point, with Romanov making the save, but Foegele was at the top of the crease to bang home the rebound for his 21st goal of the season and a 4-1 lead.

Foegele buried his second goal of the game with just 58 seconds remaining in the second period to put the hosts ahead 5-1. Stationed directly in front of Romanov, Foegele got a tip on a shot from defenseman Mikey Anderson, deflecting the puck into the back of the net for his 22nd goal of the season, a new career high. Anderson and defenseman Drew Doughty collected the assists on the play as the Kings pulled ahead by four.

Scoring again inside the final minute of the second period, the Kings took a 6-1 lead into the second intermission. Off the rush, Kuzmenko spun and fed a highlight-reel pass into the slot, only to be met by an equally skilled play, a behind-the-back redirection from defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov, into the path of Kempe, who shot first time and into the back of the net for his second of the game and 31st of the season.

The Kings scored twice in a span of just 33 seconds late in the third period as they pushed their lead to 8-1.

First, Kuzmenko made it 7-1 with his first goal and third point of the evening. After taking a pass in transition from Kopitar, Kuzmenko worked his way into the slot and beat Romanov clean with a wrist shot for the goal. Just over half a minute later, forward Trevor Lewis made it 8-1 as he scored from distance for his fifth goal of the season.

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

Vladislav Gavrikov

Adrian Kempe
On if he’s ever received two prettier passes leading up to one of his goals
No, that was pretty cool. It was a great play by Larianov and Makarov, hell of a play by those two guys. Open net, I didn’t have to do much there, so great play by them.

On not letting two losses turn into three by getting back on the right track
I think it was important. I think we built on the loss yesterday, we were obviously frustrated with not winning that game, I think we played good enough to win, but I think we came back tonight and wanted revenge, wanted to keep playing that way and I think we did. Maybe not playing a playoff team, but I think we showed up and showed good character throughout the 60 minutes, which was fun to watch.

On getting over the hump against San Jose and winning convincingly
Especially coming down to the end of the season here, nine or 10 games or whatever we have left, it doesn’t matter who we play, we have to show up every day and do the things that we have to to build on for the future, for the playoffs and do it on a consistent basis. I think over the last couple of weeks here, we’ve done that for the most part. I think it’s important that we come and show up every night, obviously a lot of games and not a lot of breaks, so I think we’ve been doing a real good job with consistency.

On the Kings scoring eight goals tonight
We had two sevens previously, so we’ve had a couple of games where we score a lot, and then it’s hard to say why, but I think we’ve done a good job creating chances. Sometimes the puck goes in a lot for you, which is important for throughout the lineup, that you can get goals from everybody.

On scoring 30 goals for the third time in four seasons
Yeah, it’s important. You set expectations before every season. For myself, I set them pretty early. Obviously, I’d like to score as much as I can, 30-goal mark is a good goal to have before every season. I think if I kept going on the pace I had earlier in the season it would have been a lot more but now we’re here and it’s a good time to get hot before playoffs.

Jim Hiller
On the team’s mentality tonight after highlighting its importance pre-game
It was good. That was good. I mean, they had the one 3-on-2 early, which was a good chance, [Rittich] made a good save, but I thought outside of that, we forechecked and backchecked, did all the work type things that we’ve been doing pretty consistently lately.

On getting a win that was “less stressful” with the large winning margin
We’ve had three of the last five where we’ve had pretty good leads in the third period, which is kind of unheard of for us. It is good because it’s a grind. It’s a grind and you’re able to then obviously play some other guys, get them some more ice and sit some guys down. It is a little bit less stressful for everybody, for sure, so it’s good to mix a few of those in.

On Adrian Kempe becoming an automatic 30-goal scorer in the NHL
Yeah, it’s to do. 40 two years ago, right, I think my first year he had 40. You start putting seasons like that together in a row, you start to become one of the elite goalscorers in league. It was probably a long time coming, you guys have seen him progress and mature, but I think right now, people around the league know that he’s one of those elite-type goals.

On the progression of Andrei Kuzmenko and the impact he continues to have on the group
He’s played really well. It helps when you score points. We’ve talked about this, for yourself personally, and I think that as much as he was contributing in a lot of different ways and by the way, did you see him backchecking out there? It’s great. We’ve asked him, for the most part, just do your thing, but around here, we want you to come back hard through the middle and we notice it two, three times a game, it’s Kuzy coming back. So that speaks to just where he’s bought in to everybody else’s work ethic. Playing with the puck, he’s as equally as dynamic as our top guys out there, he’s one of those guys now which is really important. It’s a great acquisition by our management. Just a great acquisition.

On the continued performance of the team at home and setting a franchise record with 27 wins
I wish we knew that, we’d take it on the road, for sure. I can tell you the one thing for sure is we don’t have a building full of Kings fans on the road. I would start with that. Tonight the place got rocking. We haven’t talked about the play that Kuzmenko and Gavrikov made, but that’s the nicest goal you’ll see as far as three people involved and I thought the building erupted. Those are just good vibes, they like playing here.

Notes –
• Forward Adrian Kempe (2-0=2) notched his 30th and 31st goals of the campaign, clinching his third career 30-goal season, and third consecutive 60-point campaign (32-29=60). With the multi-point performance, Kempe becomes just the 12th skater in Kings history to record three seasons of 30 goals or more. Kempe’s pair of tallies also marks his 29th career multi-goal game, tying Ziggy Palffy (29) for the 10th-most in franchise history.
• Forward Andrei Kuzmenko (1-2=3) posted his eighth career three-point performance, his second of the 2025 calendar year and first as a member of the Kings. Kuzmenko now has seven points (3-4=7) in his last five home games, dating back to March 22 vs. Carolina.
• Captain Anze Kopitar (0-3=3) notched his 40th, 41st, and 42nd assists of the season, becoming the 15th skater in NHL history to record 15 40-assist seasons.
• Kopitar’s 75 career points (28-47=75) against the San Jose Sharks ties Joe Sakic (28-47=75) for the second most in League history.
• Kopitar’s multi-point effort marked his 20th such performance against the San Jose Sharks in his career, joining Brendan Shanahan (20x), Joe Sakic (23x) and Teemu Selanne (28x) as the only skaters in NHL history to reach such mark, while his sixth career multi-assist effort against the Sharks trails only Luc Robitaille (7x) and Wayne Gretzky (10x) for the most such games in Kings franchise history.
• Kopitar’s trio of home assists marked the 456th, 457th and 458th such helpers of his career, breaking a tie with Gilbert Perrault (457A) for sole possession of the 29th most in league history. Only Mario Lemieux (5x) has recorded three-or-more assists in a game against the Sharks more times then Kopitar (3x), while his trio of primary helpers gives him 480A1 in his career, passing Marcel Dionne (479A1) for the most primary assists in franchise history.
• Forward Warren Foegele (2-0=2) registered a pair of goals to set a new career-high in goals (22) and points (22-20=42).
• Forward Trevor Moore (1-1=2) scored his 16th goal and 19th helper of the campaign for his sixth multi-point effort this season. The pair of points also extended Moore’s home point streak against the Sharks to a third game (2-2=4), dating back to Jan. 22, 2024.
• Center Phillip Danault (1-0=1) scored his eighth goal of the season for his ninth point (5-4=9) in last 14 games against the Sharks.
• Forward Trevor Lewis (1-0=1) potted his fifth goal of the campaign to conclude the Kings’ eight-goal outburst, while defenseman Jacob Moverare (0-1=1) contributed the primary assist on the goal, his sixth assist of the season.
• Defenseman Brandt Clarke (0-1=1) picked up team defensemen-leading 26th assist of the season while extending his point streak against the Sharks to a fourth game (1-3=4), dating back to Oct. 24, 2024.
• Forward Quinton Byfield (0-2=2) notched a pair of helpers to eclipse the 45-point mark (19-27=46) for the second time in his career (20-35=55; 2023-24) as part of his ninth multi-point effort this year.
• Defenseman Drew Doughty (0-2=2) tallied his 10th and 11th assists of the season and now has scored at least one point in each of his last five consecutive games against the Sharks at Crypto.com Arena (2-3=5), dating back to Dec. 17. 2022.
• Defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov (0-2=2) notched his 22nd and 23rd assists of the season for his sixth multi-point effort of the campaign, tying his single-season best set in 2021-22 with Columbus.
• Defenseman Mikey Anderson (0-1=1) registered an assist to hit the 20-point on the campaign (6-14=20), tying his single-season career-high in points (5-15=20 in 2022-23) and becoming the 13th different King’s skater this season to notch 20 points or more.
• Defenseman Jordan Spence (0-1=1) picked up his 21st assist of the season on the Kings’ eighth and final time finding the back of the net tonight. In doing so 24-year-old blueliner ties his career-high 24 points (2-22=24) from last season and is now a single helper shy of tying his career-high in assists, set the same year.
• Spence has a four-game home point streak against San Jose (1-3=4), dating back to Dec. 27, 2023.
• Goaltender David Rittich made 22 saves on 23 Sharks’ shots to improve his record to 15-13-2 on the campaign.
• Tonight’s victory marked the Kings’ 27th win at Crypto.com Arena this year to improve their home record to 27-4-4, setting a new franchise record for the most home wins in a single season.

The Kings have scheduled day off tomorrow, following the back-to-back. The team will return to the ice for morning skate on Tuesday at 10:30 AM at Toyota Sports Performance Center in El Segundo, in advance of that evening’s game versus Winnipeg.