FINAL – Kings 2, Jets 3 – Kempe, Anderson, Hiller

The LA Kings came up a goal short in Winnipeg, as they fell by a 3-2 final on Saturday afternoon at Canada Line Centre.

Winnipeg opened the scoring with a power-play goal just shy of five minutes into the game, scoring on one of three chances on the man advantage in the opening 20 minutes. Forward Kyle Connor had space at the goal line and fed the puck to forward Alex Iafallo in the low slot. Iafallo found himself uncovered, collected onto his forehand and beat Kings netminder Darcy Kuemper on the blocker side for an early 1-0 advantage.

On the first shift of the second period, the Kings tied the game after a very assertive start from the Kopitar line. After an extended stretch with offensive-zone possession, forward Adrian Kempe fed the puck to defenseman Mikey Anderson at the left point. Anderson’s shot evaded both a Kopitar screen and Winnipeg goaltender Connor Hellebuyck to tie the game at one with Anderson’s first goal of the season.

The same line put the Kings ahead for the first time as all three forwards touched the puck, attacking off the rush. Kempe chipped the puck into space through the neutral zone, before working it to forward Andrei Kuzmenko on the right wing. Kuzmenko spun and fed Kopitar, who went to Kempe at the back post for the tap-in goal, Kempe’s first of the season, as the visitors took their first lead of the afternoon.

With just over a minute remaining in the second period, Winnipeg tied the game at two with a weird goal just after a Kings power play expired. After forcing a turnover in their own zone, forwards Mark Schiefele and Morgan Barron led a 2-on-1 rush, with Schiefele’s pass kicking off of Anderson and slipping past Kuemper for a 2-2 scoreline after 40 minutes of play.

The Jets pulled back in front with just over eight minutes to play in regulation, with Schiefele collecting his second goal of the game. The Kings were unable to get a full line change, which led to the Jets coming back at them with speed. After re-establishing the offensive zone, Schiefele got a deflection on a shot from defenseman Josh Morrissey, sending it past Kuemper and in for a 3-2 Jets lead.

Hear from Kempe, Anderson and Head Coach Jim Hiller following today’s defeat.

Adrian Kempe

Mikey Anderson
On his takeaways from today’s game in Winnipeg
Yeah, slow start, obviously. We knew they were coming out hard, they always do here, especially looking and seeing their first game didn’t go so well, so you knew they were going to have a push. We obviously didn’t help ourselves, taking a lot of penalties right away, but good fight back. Just comes down to a bounce either way and unfortunately we didn’t get it done.

On the start coming down to penalties versus just not playing as well as was needed
Maybe a little bit of both. Obviously, a slow start can lead to the penalties but once you get that, you lose probably at least half the forwards, maybe a couple d-men, that’s a lot of time sitting there, so it’s hard for them to get back into it. I thought it was a good response by everyone coming back out in second.

On the turnaround coming after the third penalty killed and carrying that on
One of those goes in, you get a little more momentum, but obviously it’s a good thing to see. Feels good, makes you feel a little more on your toes than sitting back. Give them credit, though, they were sharp on the power play. They were zipping it around, they had some good looks, Darce with some saves, but it kind of feels like you’re playing catch up. It’s nice to feel like you’re in control for a little bit.

On his goal and how he saw that play develop and unfold
Normally, I don’t think many d-men try and pick corners from back there, I try and get it by the first guy and then from there, maybe we have a guy there to tip it, maybe we don’t, but you look see if there’s anyone around the net and try and just get something down there.

On any building blocks he sees from today’s game
Yeah, I mean top to bottom, we weren’t very clean in the first. Part of that again, maybe no rhythm, but once we got going, maybe forwards putting pucks in, and forechecking a little bit more, maybe that’s from us giving them more time to make some plays. I thought it’s good for the group to maybe watch that, build from it, getting pucks in, forechecking, getting them back and trying to play direct.

Jim Hiller
On his overall impressions from today’s game
They were ready to start, we weren’t. That was really clear. Their power play was good, scored the goal, but also gave them just the momentum and a lot of feel good minutes there, where they were just missing, so they get into the game right away, but we gathered ourselves, that was clear. The last 40 minutes, despite the outcome, was probably the best we’ve played consecutive periods so far this year. They’re a good team, and the goalie was really good, it’s a simple story. We had a chance, I would tell you, to block a couple shots that we didn’t. Look at the score sheet, I think they blocked 27, they were diving all over the place at the end, so the team that was maybe a little more desperate won.

On whether he felt the start was down to the penalties or just a subpar start
I mean, we just weren’t sharp. When you’re not sharp, you’re behind and you’re hooking people or you’re making poor decisions, losing body position, so that was it. They were ready to go, they were moving and I was glad to see us get our pace up and match them and then, like I said, I thought we played pretty well the last 40

On the late-first period turnaround and carrying that over into the second period
We hadn’t been dangerous for 15 minutes, so at least that gave us a little bit of a push or something to feel good about coming in. Then, I liked how we responded, our second we should have more, we had a lot of o-zone time, but we came up a little bit light.

On his thought process on when to pull the goaltender on the late power play
Yeah, that’s always a tough one. I’m usually a little more aggressive there but our power play was going pretty good, we were moving it around, so I just thought we’re going to play that out and then they kept in there, so we were just waiting for a whistle. Once we got it, then we went with it.

On Joel Armia’s game tonight and earning more minutes late in the game
He’s been playing really good. We’ve talked about Army now a few nights and he didn’t score, but extremely dangerous. He had two or three of our best looks on the night and he’s making good plays. He’s a really, really smart player. That’s one thing that’s become very clear. You can see some of the offensive plays but just a really, really smart player with and without the puck. It’s an important addition for us.

Notes –
– Defenseman Mikey Anderson (1-0=1) opened the scoring for the Kings with his first goal of the season and first career goal against the Winnipeg Jets.
– Winger Adrian Kempe (1-1=2) picked up his second assist of the season and then tapped home his first goal of the season. With the marker, Kempe now has 195 career goals as a member of the LA Kings, breaking a three-way tie with Jeff Carter and Mike Murphy (194 G) for sole possession of the 10th most goals in franchise history.
– The 29-year-old extends his point streak against the Jets to a fifth game (4-5=9) since April 1, 2024 and has now posted four consecutive multi-point efforts against the club (4-4=8) dating back to Nov. 11, 2024. The native of Kramfors, Sweden is the third skater in NHL history to score at least one goal and one assist over four consecutive matchups against the Jets franchise, and is the first to do so since their relocation to Winnipeg; he joins Alex Ovechkin (5 GP, Dec. 22, 2005 – April 17, 2006: 5-7=12) and Jaromir Jagr (4 GP, Dec. 6, 2002 – Oct. 11, 2003: 5-5=10).
– Defenseman Drew Doughty (0-1=1) notched his second assist of the year, each earned in consecutive road games to start the campaign. The London, Ontario native now has four total points (0-4=4) in his last four visits to Manitoba, dating back to Feb. 28, 2023)
– Winger Andrei Kuzmenko (0-1=1) recorded his second assist of the campaign on Kempe’s goal.
– Center Anze Kopitar (0-1=1) recorded his third assist in as many games to start the season. The captain now has 1,281 career points (440-841=1,281), tying fellow three-time Lady Byng Memorial Trophy winner Alex Delvecchio (456-825=1,281) for 39th most in NHL history. With his assist, Kopitar extends both his season-opening point streak to a third game (0-3=3) and his point streak against the Jets to a League-leading ninth game (8-6=14), dating back to Feb. 28, 2023.

The Kings are scheduled to practice tomorrow in Minnesota, in advance of Monday’s game against the Minnesota Wild.