FINAL – Kings 4, Sharks 5 (OT) – Kempe, Byfield, Laviolette

The LA Kings collected their first point of the 2026-27 regular season but came up short in overtime, as they fell 5-4 to the San Jose Sharks on Saturday evening at SAP Center.

The Kings opened the scoring late in the first period with their first power-play goal of the season, courtesy of forward Adrian Kempe. After a good sequence of puck movement in the offensive zone, forward Artemi Panarin picked a seam through the circles, to Kempe on the right side, where the Swede one-timed the pass into the back of the net for an early 1-0 advantage.

After Los Angeles forward Alex Laferriere was assessed a roughing minor at the end of the opening period, San Jose capitalized early in the second to tie the game at one. Forward Macklin Celebrini dished the puck to Ivar Stenberg, crashing into the right-hand circle. Stenberg then slid a pass to forward Tyler Toffoli at the back post, where he tapped in the game-tying goal just 1:48 into the middle stanza.

San Jose scored a pair of even-strength goals, just shy of three minutes apart, to open up its first lead of the game at 3-1.

First, Kings forward Erik Haula attempted a cross-ice pass in his own zone, which was picked off by San Jose forward Kiefer Sherwood in the slot and wired home, past Kings goaltender Anton Forsberg, for the first lead of the evening for the hosts. Then, the Sharks attacked in transition, with forward Michael Misa dropping the puck to defenseman Nolan Allan in the left-hand circle, where he buried his first of the season on a seeing-eye shot for the two-goal lead.

With only 1.3 seconds left on the clock in the middle stanza, forward Quinton Byfield scored the second Los Angeles power-play goal of the game to pull the Kings back within one through 40 minutes of play. Byfield took a feed from forward Mats Zuccarello in the right-hand circle and powered a shot past San Jose goaltender Yaroslav Askarov on the blocker side for his first goal of the season and a 3-2 scoreline.

Early in the third period, San Jose restored its two-goal advantage, as forward Igor Chernyshov scored against the flow of play, putting the Sharks ahead 4-2. After a sustained period of play at the other end, San Jose attacked in transition, with Chernyshov splitting the defensemen, before he beat Forsberg short side with a backhanded shot for his first goal of the season.

The Kings pulled back within a goal once again midway through the third period as Haula responded with a big goal. After he won the faceoff to establish possession in the offensive zone, Haula worked his way to the front of the net and got a deflection on a point shot from defenseman Erik Gustafsson, sending it past Askarov as the visitors moved to within 4-3.

With exactly five minutes remaining regulation, the top line for the Kings finally broke through at even strength, after a dangerous night, to tie the game at four and force overtime. With Kempe pressuring on the forecheck, the Kings forced a turnover deep in the San Jose zone. Byfield collected the puck and fed Panarin for a one-timer, which he buried, top shelf, for his second goal in as many games.

In 3-on-3 overtime, the Kings controlled the bulk of the extra session, but gave up another goal against the run of play to drop the second point. Chernyshov was the goalscorer, on a one timer from a sharp angle the bottom of the left-hand circle, giving San Jose the 5-4 win.

Hear from Kempe, Byfield and Head Coach Peter Laviolette following tonight’s game.

Adrian Kempe

Quinton Byfield
On his assessment of tonight’s game overall
Yeah, I felt like we had a strong first period and kind of give it all back to them in the second. Then, it shows good compete, resilience that we came back there, but, I thought overall, it was pretty strong. It feels like we deserved a couple more, but also, it’s a good comeback for us to get the one.

On if he felt his goal late in the second gave the group a spark heading into the third
I think so. I think give a little spark. Our power play wasn’t great the first game, so scoring two this game really kind of boosts it. Then, to late goal going into the intermission was nice.

On what he felt the power play did differently than in Colorado
I feel like Colorado was a lot of pressure, and tonight, it felt like we could almost set up some of our plays a little bit more. We seamed it, had some traffic, got a lot of pucks to the net. Just a little simplified.

On the improvements from Game 1 to Game 2 overall
Yeah, feels like we didn’t give up as many odd-man rushes. It’s something that the F3 has to stay above a little bit, especially when our D are pinching. So, I feel like we cleaned that up a bit, so that’s a positive.

Peter Laviolette
On getting a point tonight, in a game that could have been two
It’s tough. Again, the score didn’t go our way, so we’re chasing the game a little bit. I thought that there was a ton of fight in the end. I really liked the way we played the overtime and I hate the result. So, lots of things that we did well, but you know, we’re still early in the season. We’re working on things out there as well to get better at, but I like the fact that the guys fought all the way to the end.

On the response in the third period after going down 4-2
Well, just the in the third, you’re out there, you’re pushing to get back in the game, and they end up popping one, again, they get the fourth, and we didn’t stop there. We just kept going and I just really liked the fight in the guys today. They competed all the way to the end, trying to get a win and it didn’t happen.

On the power play tonight and the improvements he saw from Game 1
They moved it well. I thought that they got plenty of looks. I mean, I think there was five crossbars, five posts out there tonight, so there was lots of good things, lots of positives to pull from it and try to get better.

On the performance of the top line and the chances they created
I thought they were excellent the entire night. QB, Bread and Kemps were really, I thought, pretty dynamic and generated an awful lot for us. I think when you can move it on the power play and get a result like that early in the game, sometimes I think it can be a little bit contagious.

Notes –
– Forward Adrian Kempe (1-1=2) scored his first goal and produced his first assist of the season tonight, marking his fourth consecutive visit to SAP Center with at least one point (2-4=6), dating back to Nov. 25, 2024. Kempe now has 23 career points (11-12=23) against the Sharks, breaking a tie with Tomas Sandström (11-10=21) for sole possession of 10th most in Kings history.
– Kempe’s performance tonight accounted for his 475th and 476th career points (231-245=476), narrowing the gap between him and Jim Fox (186-293=479) to three points for 11th most in franchise history.
– Kempe’s tally was the 46th game-opening goal of his career, tying Tomas Holmström (46 1g) for the 15th most by a skater of Swedish nationality in NHL history. The 30-year-old ranks sixth in such goals in Kings franchise history.
– Forward Quinton Byfield (1-1=2) scored his first goal of the campaign with less than two seconds remaining in the second period. Byfield converted the Kings’ second power play goal of the evening, the 15th such tally of his career, and marked the first time the Kings scored multiple power play goals in San Jose since Oct. 22, 2015.
– The 24-year-old center then added his first assist of the season with the lone helper on Artemi Panarin’s game-tying goal with just over five minutes remaining in regulation.
– Forward Artemi Panarin (1-1=2) earned his first assist of the 2026-27 season before scoring his second goal of the year and will skate into Tuesday’s Home-Opener at Crypto.com Arena with a team-leading three points (2-1=3) on the year.
– Forward Erik Haula (1-0=1) scored his first goal as a member of the LA Kings and has started his tenure with the franchise on a two-game point streak (1-1=2) following his assist on Wednesday night at Ball Arena.
– Defenseman Brandt Clarke (0-2=2) collected his first and second assists and points of the season in his 17th career multi-point effort. Clarke now has eight points (2-6=8) in nine career games played against San Jose.
– Forward Mats Zuccarello (0-1=1) notched his first point with the Kings with a primary assist on Byfield’s power play tally. The 39-year-old has 10 points (3-7=10) in his last six games against San Jose, dating back to Nov. 7, 2024.
– Defenseman Erik Gustafsson (0-1=1) recorded his first point as a member of the Kings with the primary set-up on Haula’s goal.

The Kings have a scheduled day off tomorrow and will return to the ice on Monday, October 5 for practice at 11 AM at Toyota Sports Performance Center.