FINAL – Kings 4, Wild 2 – Kuzmenko, Kuemper, Hiller

The LA Kings completed the mini sweep over the Minnesota Wild on Monday evening at Crypto.com Arena, as they skated to a 4-2 victory.

The first period lacked goals but was certainly not short on pace, as the two teams skated to a very fast opening 20. Chances came at both ends of the ice, with the fourth lines on both sides contributing with the best looks of the period.

Just over 35 minutes into the game, the Kings opened the scoring through forward Warren Foegele. A makeshift line of Foegele with forwards Samuel Helenius and Jeff Malott had a strong shift in the offensive zone, with pressure along the boards extending the possession. Defenseman Brian Dumoulin fed Foegele at the center point for a one-timer, through traffic in front, top shelf, for his sixth goal of the season and a 1-0 lead.

Late in the middle stanza, the Kings doubled their advantage with one of their prettiest goals of the season. Forward Alex Turcotte started things out with a two-line stretch pass, springing forwards Andrei Kuzmenko and Kevin Fiala 2-on-2 the other way. After a give-and-go at the blueline, Kuzmenko delayed and found Fiala driving the net for the goal, his team-leading 15th of the season, as the Kings took a 2-0 lead through 40 minutes of play.

Nearly six minutes into the third period, Minnesota pulled a goal back as defenseman Jared Spurgeon scored for the second time this season against the Kings. Stationed at the left point, Spurgeon took a pass from his defensive partner, Jonas Brodin, and his shot towards the net deflected off a Kings stick on the way through and snuck past Kuemper, high glove side, to cut the Los Angeles advantage to 2-1.

Kuzmenko restored the multi-goal lead with a terrific individual effort to make it a multi-point game. Operating on the left side, Kuzmenko shook his defenseman as he worked his way down the left-hand wall. Kuzmenko shielded the puck and drove to the net, dragging the puck across the top of the crease and burying at the far post, his ninth goal of the season, as the Kings pulled ahead 3-1.

Minnesota capitalized on its sixth power play of the game, late in the third period, to move back within a goal at 3-2. After the Kings killed the first half of a double-minor, assessed to defenseman Mikey Anderson, Wild forward Ryan Hartman scored just before the four-minute opportunity expired, bringing the visitors back within a goal.

With 1:38 on the clock, Kings forward Adrian Kempe picked the empty net to pull ahead by two goals, securing the victory.

Hear from Kuzmenko, Kuemper and Head Coach Jim Hiller after tonight’s victory.

Andrei Kuzmenko

Darcy Kuemper
On tonight’s win over Minnesota
I think we started playing a little bit more together. That’s what it takes to be successful in this league. The way our team is built, we need everyone going every night, playing for each other. We addressed it a few days ago and I think the last two games were great examples of us doing that.

On if he felt the team going down to 10 forwards galvanized the group to play together
Yeah, exactly, it’s guys picking up their games to help the guys that are out of the lineup and guys stepping into bigger roles and playing more minutes, cherishing that opportunity and going out and playing like they did tonight.

On what Andrei Kuzmenko brings on plays like his goal tonight
He’s got such quick hands and can cut back so fast like he did on that goal. It’s awesome to see him get going like that. He was a real difference maker tonight

On how he feels now, three games back off the injury
I’ve been just trying to grow my game each game. Tonight’s the game that I’ve definitely felt the most like myself. It’s been nice to get back in there and get my feet back under me. I just want to keep building

On the defensemen making his job easier tonight, helping to break up passing plays
The D were doing such a great job. They’re a big, dangerous team in front of the net and they were taking away second chances. They’re also pretty crafty with passes to the back post and the d-men did such a good job of breaking those up all night. That just allowed me to be confident and play the shooter.

Jim Hiller
On if tonight was the gutsiest win of the season for the Kings
I agree, certainly this season, without question. We played well the game before, played well for 56 minutes against Tampa, so starting to get a little traction, I think.

On getting a moment of magic from Kuzmenko to get the team over the line
I thought the second period we pushed, we had a lot of chances in and around their net. Third, we knew they were going to come, but we got on our heels with the with the penalty kill. You’re looking in those moments for somebody to make a big play. We’ve had opportunities at different times this year and we’ve been close but we haven’t been able to get that. Tonight, it was just an incredible goal by Kuzy, really the most important goal in the game in the end.

On Darcy Kuemper’s play and looking like himself again
Darce, when stuff is in front of him, as long as they don’t have to go lateral, 2-on-1’s and cross-ice passes, he’s as good as there is. He’s just so big and so square. I thought what he did well tonight too, you saw four or five scrambles, he was just able to hold his hold his ground at the net, not get pushed in. They’re jamming at him and I think that’s where the size and the strength really comes into play for him. Those were important, important moments in those scrambles.

On getting more tonight from Samuel Helenius and that line, down Kopitar and Armia
He played a season’s high tonight, but I think you’ve seen it, I think they matched up really well against Sturm’s line. Sturm’s line is a big, strong line, they’re hard to handle, I thought they had a pretty effective game tonight, so I really like the matchup of Malott, Perry and Sammy against that line. [Minnesota] plays them pretty consistently, so we were able to play our guys pretty consistently. I think you’re seeing Sammy gain some confidence, getting more ice time and there’s no doubt. I had him out there, buck and a half late, I had him out there late. It’s a two way street for him,

On getting a big goal from Warren Foegele that got him going a bit
He made the one that got disallowed, he drove [the net] and that looked more like Foegs to me, where he used to speed through the neutral zone, he attacked the net, quick play at the net, shot. We haven’t seen that a lot out of him this year, as far as speed through the rush attack, through the neutral zone. For me, I really enjoyed that moment for him, that felt like Foegs, so hopefully it’s a springboard for him.

Notes –
– Forward Andrei Kuzmenko (1-1=2) scored his ninth goal of the season after recording his seventh assist of the year to forge his third multi-goal game of the campaign. Kuzmenko becomes the second Russian-born skater in Kings history to record a multi-point effort against the Wild, joining Alex Frolov (2-1=3 on Dec. 31, 2009).
– Forward Warren Foegele (1-0=1) scored his sixth goal of the season, his fifth career goal against Minnesota, all of which have been scored at even-strength. Foegele’s five even-strength goals vs. the Wild ties David Pastrnak and Viktor Arvidsson for the seventh-most EVG against the Wild among skaters selected in the 2014 NHL Draft.
– Forward Kevin Fiala (1-0=1) scored his 15th goal and 29th point of the season to push his point streak to a fourth consecutive game (2-3=5) for the second time this season (3-2=5 in 5 GP from Oct. 13 – 23, 2025). With the goal, Fiala extended his point streak against his former team to a ninth game (4-7=11), dating back to Oct. 19, 2023, which stands as the longest in Kings history against the Wild. It is also tied for the fourth-longest such streak in NHL history; the only players who have recorded a longer run against the Wild are Erik Karlsson (5-13=18 in 11 GP from Dec. 19, 2009 – Dec. 19, 2017), Zach Hyman (5-7=12 in 11 GP from Dec. 7, 2021 – Jan. 15, 2025), and Alex Ovechkin (15-10=25 in 13 GP from Nov, 24, 2008 – Nov. 13, 2018).
– Forward Adrian Kempe (1-0=1) scored his 15th of the season and extended his goal streak against the Wild to a fifth game, dating back to Dec. 7, 2024. In doing so, Kempe broke a tie with Jeff Carter (4G from March 30 – Oct. 3, 2013) for the longest goal streak against the Wild in Kings history. Tonight’s empty-net goal marked Kempe’s 11th tally and 23rd point (11-12=23) through 31 career games played against the Wild.
– Defenseman Brian Dumoulin (0-2=2) collected his ninth and 10th assists of the season tonight, marking his third multi-point game of the campaign. He joins Brandt Clarke (5 GP) and Joel Edmundson (3 GP) as the third Kings defenseman to record a trio of multi-point efforts through the first half of the 2025-26 campaign.
– Forward Jeff Malott (0-1=1) recorded his first assist of the season and his first career helper on home ice.
– Forward Alex Turcotte (0-1=1) picked up his sixth assist of the season, his second assist in as many games against the Wild. The assist stands as Turcotte’s 25th career helper, becoming the third Illinois-born skater in Kings history to reach the quarter-century mark, joining Joe Corvo (50A) and Tony Granato (157 A). Turcotte (0-2=2 in 2 GP) joins Corvo (0-2=2 in 2 GP) as the only two Illinois-born skaters in Kings history with points in consecutive against the Minnesota Wild.
– Forward Quinton Byfield (0-1=1) notched his 18th assist of the campaign and now has five points (2-3=5) across three consecutive games against Minnesota. Byfield now has nine points (3-6=9) against the Wild through 12 career matchups. Byfield skated in his 300th career game tonight, becoming the eighth skater selected in the 2020 NHL Draft to reach the mark. At 23 years, 193 days, old, Byfield becomes the fourth-youngest skater to play 300 games with the Kings, trailing only Doug Smith (22y-249d), Anze Kopitar (22y-194d) and Drew Doughty (22y-89d). Byfield is also the fifth-youngest skater to play his 300th career NHL game as a member of the Kings, behind only Smith, Kopitar, Rick Hampton (22y-0164d) and Doughty.
– Forward Alex Laferriere (0-1=1) recorded his 10th assist of the season, his second consecutive game with a point against the Wild.
– Goaltender Darcy Kuemper made 32 saves on 34 shots to earn his 12th win of the campaign, his seventh career victory against the club that selected him in the sixth round (161st overall) of the 2009 NHL Draft.

The Kings are scheduled to return to the ice tomorrow for practice at 11 AM at Toyota Sports Performance Center in El Segundo.