FINAL – Kings 1, Oilers 0 – Kopitar, Forsberg, Smith

The LA Kings moved one step closer to the postseason, as they skated to a 1-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers in the final home game of the 2025-26 regular season on Saturday afternoon at Crypto.com Arena.

Los Angeles opened the scoring 7:34 into the game, as forward Artemi Panarin got the hosts on the board. Panarin worked the puck off of Edmonton defenseman Evan Bouchard at his own blueline and quickly went the other direction on a breakaway. Panarin moved into the slot and buried his shot top shelf, past Oilers goaltender Connor Ingram, for his 28th goal of the season and the early 1-0 lead.

The second and third periods both came and went without a goal, with Panarin’s marker holding up as the lone tally of the game. Kings goaltender Anton Forsberg made 11 saves in the third period, bringing his total to 27 in total for the game, as he recorded his third shutout of the season to seal the one-goal win over Edmonton.

Hear from Forsberg, forward Anze Kopitar and Interim Head Coach D.J. Smith following today’s victory.

Anze Kopitar

Anton Forsberg
On the speech Kopitar gave
I played him back in Sweden as well when he was there during the lockout and then playing in for a long time here. I mean, he’s an unbelievable player. Everybody you talk to before I got here, said he was an unbelievable person, too, and he lives up to that every day. Such a captain. He never takes a day off. He’s always there. There’s not enough words to describe him. You get goosebumps out there watching him doing that speech.

On the way the team is playing when they need it most
We’re playing Kings hockey right now. These are tight games down the stretch here. Play a structured game, staying with it, and just grinding. And they’re a good team over there and have a lot of good players, but so do we. To come out on the right side, I’m just going to keep working.

On what went well for him in the game that allowed him to make saves on each shot
The team has really gotten together and played a really good defensive game. There were a lot of guys out there that were blocking shots. Byfield did a great job of shutting down 97 there, and it’s the way we’ve got to play to win games. There were so many guys out there that did a really good job tonight, and we just got to keep working on it.

On the way the team played in front of him
In general, just seeing the guys, like the way they they’ve taken hits. They came hard on the forecheck. They were hitting, I don’t know how many times they hit [Doughty] back there and he was just taking the hits and skated on. They were boxing out for me to see the puck. They’re taking the fight in front of the net for me, and then on top of that, blocking shots. So this group, has come a long way, and we got to keep building.

On the energy DJ brings to the room and his familiarity with him
The group obviously has a lot more energy. It’s hard to not notice that out there. We’re coming a little bit harder on the forecheck and we’re creating a lot more offense because of it. I feel like we’re trying to play faster. But then obviously, he’s a loud human being in the room, and he’s always happy and feels like guys are listening to him. It’s been good for our group. It’s great. You need someone to be able to speak to the team and get the message out there. I think it’s done a good job so far.

D.J. Smith
On winning the game with the low score
Well, we were above them. And obviously Q’s line with the help of everybody, and Mikey and Doughty back there, found a way to not let Connor take you apart. He’s done that for, I mean, his whole career, but recently, he’s really done it. If you can hold him off, you got a chance.

On Byfield’s defensive effort
Q is an athlete. He’s got an ability to score. At this particular time of the year, we’re asking him to play against the other team’s top players and to do a job, and that means sometimes that you don’t get to play as much offense. He’s not on the power play, Connor’s coming out of the penalty box, and I don’t want to put Q on the power play. I’ve got to save him for him. So Q is doing a lot of things that are very unselfish, and later in his career, and after Kopitar has retired, Q is going to get all those minutes, but right now he’s doing what we need him to do, and that’s play against the other team’s top guys.

On the game having a higher importance after the most recent loss to Edmonton
Well, I think a lot of it, I mean, they beat us 8-1 in here and like I said earlier, they had their top guys out there with five minutes to go, or three minutes to go. And I think as an athlete, you know those kinds of things, and they kind of rubbed it in, and it probably made guys play harder today.

On the moment after the game when Kopitar addressed the crowd
20 years coming to this rink as an LA King and we had a little cheer in the dressing room for him as well. The boys want to see him play another one. I think everyone to a man is pushing that he gets to play on this ice one more time. He’s given everything he’s got. He won four straight faceoffs there for us, and he’s given everything he’s got here down the stretch. Can’t ask any more from him at this stage of his career, and let’s see what we can do for him.

On his team doing whatever it takes to win
We got guys that have been in this league a long time and they know how to win games. We haven’t particularly done it a ton. We’re starting to get a little swagger at home and guys are playing hard in front of them, but when they get a chance, he’s making the saves. At this time of the year, you need everybody, and I don’t think there’s a guy, especially on the back end, that didn’t give everything they have to block a shot or do what they had and when we couldn’t get in front of it, he made the save.

On the relationship between Kopitar and the fans in LA over the years
When you’re a fan, you’re lucky when you get a guy like that that’s that reliable over that many years and provides that much entertainment, a couple Stanley Cups. I mean, you’re lucky. I think for me, if it’s comfortable. As a kid, I was a Red Wing fan, and you know, Kenny Holland, as strange as that is now, as my boss, provided us with Steve Yzerman and Federov, and we got to watch that memorable career. And then after them, as I started to play myself, it was Datsyuk and Zetterberg. And so every night you’re watching a Hall of Famer, and not till long after they’re gone, do you realize, wow, that was something to be able to watch that guy play every night, and then to do it at 38 I don’t think a lot of people understand the difference. When you’re 38 years old, you’ve got family, kids, the wear and tear on his body to be able to push himself and still be relevant at this age is exceptional.

Notes –
– Forward Artemi Panarin (1-0=1) scored his 28th goal of the season, his 26th point (9–17=26) since being acquired by the LA Kings on Feb. 4. In doing so, the winger ties Craig Conroy (11–15=26), Jozef Stumpel (7–19=26), and Rick Tocchet (13-13=26) for the eighth-most points recorded through a player’s first 23 games with the Kings.
– Of Panarin’s 26 points through his first 23 games in black-and-silver, 17 (5-12=17) of them have been recorded through 15 appearances at Crypto.com Arena, tying Pavol Demitra (8-9=17), Bryan Smolinski (6-11=17), Jimmy Carson (8-9=17), and Syl Apps (9-8=17) for fifth all-time in points recorded through a player’s first 15 home games with the Kings. Panarin maintains his point-per-game pace against Edmonton since entering the League, recording 23 points (9-14=23) over his 23 games against the Alberta-based franchise.
– Captain Anze Kopitar skated in his 1,518th career regular-season NHL game this afternoon, his final regular-season appearance at Crypto.com Arena. With today’s appearance, Kopitar tied former Boston Bruins captain Ray Bourque (1,518 GP) for the seventh-most regular-season games played with a single franchise in League history.
– Defenseman Drew Doughty skated in his 640th career home game today, breaking a tie with Darryl Sydor (639 GP) for sole possession of the 25th-most home games played by a blueliner in NHL history.
– Forward Samuel Helenius skated in his 100th career NHL game this afternoon, becoming the seventh Kings player of Finnish nationality to reach the century mark in franchise history. Selected in the second round (59th overall) of the 2021 NHL Draft, Helenius is the 26th player from his draft class to play 100 career regular-season games.
– Goaltender Anton Forsberg turned aside all 27 of the Oilers’ shots on goal this afternoon to record his 15th win and third shutout (SO) of the season. Forsberg’s three blank-sheets this year match a career high (3 SO) he set last season as a member of the Ottawa Senators.
– Additionally, the native of Härnösand, Sweden, became the fourth Kings goaltender in the past 10 years to record three shutouts in his first season with the franchise. Per NHL PR, Forsberg joined David Rittich (3 in 2023-24), Cam Talbot (3 in 2023-24) and Darcy Kuemper (3 in 2017-18).

The Kings will travel to Seattle tomorrow and will return to the ice on Monday, April 13 at 6:30 PM at Climate Pledge Arena against the Seattle Kraken.