FINAL – Kings 1, Flames 3 – Kopitar, Clarke, Smith

The LA Kings concluded their 2025-26 regular-season schedule with a 3-1 defeat against the Calgary Flames, setting up a Round 1 playoff matchup with the Colorado Avalanche.

Neither team found the back of the net in the first period, despite a 10-2 advantage for the Kings in shots on goal.

Calgary opened the scoring early in the middle stanza with a power-play goal. Skating 5-on-4, defenseman Matvei Gridin threaded a pass through from the right point, connecting with forward Morgan Frost at the back post for the tap-in goal. Frost’s goal was his second of the season versus Los Angeles and his 22nd in total, a Calgary team high.

The Kings answered back less than two minutes later, however, as forward Quinton Byfield set a new career high with his 24th goal of the season. Forward Alex Laferriere carried the puck around the net with possession before he found forward Trevor Moore in front. Moore quickly fed Byfield for the goal, his 11th over his last 15 games played, tying the game at one.

Early in the third period, the Flames took a 2-1 advantage through defenseman Zayne Parekh. Attacking in from the left point, Parekh worked his way into the left-hand circle and snapped a shot high on the glove side, past Kings goaltender Anton Forsberg and in from a dangerous area on the ice for his fourth goal of the season, putting the hosts ahead by a goal.

The Flames hit the empty net inside the game’s final moments to secure a 3-1 victory.

Hear from forward Anze Kopitar, defenseman Brandt Clarke and Interim Head Coach D.J. Smith following tonight’s game.

Anze Kopitar

Brandt Clarke
On being a part of Anze Kopitar’s final regular-season game in the NHL
It was a really cool moment. He’s such a special person and having the whole family here, having the kids on the bench before the game, seeing their big smiles, is really special for all of us to endure that with him. We’re looking forward to his last playoff run here. Obviously not the result we wanted tonight, but yeah, still a memorable night overall and we’re going to turn the page and on to the playoffs.

On if he felt it was at all difficult to get up for these final 2 games after clinching
I wouldn’t say so. I think in our room, we still wanted to win, we wanted to move up as we could. Obviously, that didn’t end up happening, but it was Kopi’s last few regular season games, we knew we could still move up, we still had the mindset o we want to go out there, we want to win, we want to play the right way. Overall, we did that. Sometimes, the puck just doesn’t go in the net and that’s what happened tonight. If we’re playing our best style hockey, these are going to be close games coming up here. It’s the most exciting time of the year, so we’re all looking forward to it.

On his thoughts on playing Colorado in Round 1
Obviously, you hear the hype, they have the good players there, they finished first in the regular season, but we’re a scrappy team. We keep it close with everybody and I think that can really frustrate them. If we play our style. It’s going to be a tight series, going to be tight games, and so we’re looking forward to it. In the playoffs, if it comes down to that, it comes down to one shot, you don’t know which way it’s going to go. We have the utmost belief in our group of guys that we can pull off anything.

D.J. Smith
On Anze Kopitar and the final regular-season game of his NHL career
It’s been an absolute pleasure to coach him. The professionalism, his effort, day in, day out, never putting himself bigger than the team. Even when there were stretches, probably this year, where he didn’t play as much as he’d like, he just takes it in stride. I think, just for myself anyways, I thank him for that professionalism and what he’s probably set up for these kids going forward.

On the upcoming Round 1 matchup with Colorado
We knew going in, we knew after two who we were playing. I mean, today with social media and phones, everyone knew after two. For us, I don’t think it matters. Whoever we were going to play, we’d be the underdog and coming from the back. We’re playing well. We know there’s going to be spurts where they’re going to be really, really good but we’re going to have to look at it and manage those times. We’ve got some guys playing well here as well. So, we’re going to find out.

On the team going into that matchup off its strongest month of the season
For sure. We’re going to have to weather the storm, there’s going to be times where they’re really going to come at us. I mean, they have 5,6,7 of the best players in the world over there, but the one thing we’ve always been able to do is play defense. So, we’re going to have to defend real hard and then when we get opportunities, we’re going to have to sting them.

Notes –
– Forward Quinton Byfield (1-0=1) scored his 24th goal of the season, setting a new single-season best. The 23-year-old skates into his fifth career Stanley Cup Playoffs with four goals in his last three outings, dating back to his multi-goal (2- 0=2) effort on April 13 at Climate Pledge Arena.
– With Byfield’s goal tonight, the Kings found the back of the net at least once in all 82 games this season, marking the fifth campaign in franchise history accomplishing the feat, following the 1986-87, 1987-88, 1988-89, and 1990-91 seasons.
– Forward Trevor Moore (0-1=1) picked up his 19th assist of the campaign, closing the season with four points (1-3=4) in his last three games.
– Forward Alex Laferriere (0-1=1) notched his 23rd assist of the season, finishing the 2025-26 season with career-high totals in points (21-23=44), goals (21) and power play goals (3). Laferriere’s 44 points on the year were the third most points recorded by any Kings skater this season, behind only Quinton Byfield (24-25=49) and Adrian Kempe (36-37=73).
– The winger heads into the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs with five points (2-3=5) in his last three games played, dating back to the start of the Kings’ road trip on Monday in Seattle.
– Captain Anze Kopitar skated in his 1,521st and final regular-season NHL game this evening in Calgary. With 1,316 points (452-864=1,316), Kopitar concludes his career with the seventh-most career points by any player born and trained outside of North America. Per NHL PR, the only such players with more points are Jaromir Jagr (766-1,155=1,921), Alex Ovechkin (929-758=1,687), Teemu Selanne (684-773=1,457), Evgeni Malkin (533-874=1,407), Jari Kurri (601- 797=1,398) and Mats Sundin (564-785=1,349).
– The captain’s 1,521 appearances are also the seventh-most games played by any player with a single franchise in NHL history.
– In addition to claiming the franchise’s all-time point record last month in New Jersey, Kopitar ranks atop nearly every major category in LA Kings history, including games played (1,521), assists (864), points (452-864=1,316), overtime points (34), overtime assists (25), and game-winning goals (79).

The LA Kings will begin the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs on Sunday, April 19 at 12:00 PM Pacific versus the Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena in Denver.