FINAL – Kings 2, Kraken 1 – Byfield, Fiala, Rittich, Hiller

The Los Angeles Kings completed a three-game homestand with a record of 2-1-0, following today’s 2-1 victory over the Seattle Kraken on Saturday afternoon at Crypto.com Arena.

After a first period that came and went without a ton of offense in either direction, the Kings opened the scoring early in the second period, with two goals coming less than two minutes apart.

First, skating at even strength, forward Alex Turcotte made an incisive pass in between three Seattle players, finding forward Adrian Kempe with a bit of room in the slot. Kempe uncorked a wrist shot that beat Kraken netminder Joey Daccord high on the blocker side for his team-leading tenth goal of the season and a 1-0 advantage.

The Kings then converted on the man advantage, doubling their lead heading into the second intermission. Forward Anze Kopitar worked his way into the middle of the ice and dropped the puck back to forward Kevin Fiala in the high slot. Fiala used a hesitation fake to look off the defenseman before feeding forward Quinton Byfield for a one-timer in the right-hand circle, which he buried for his third goal of the season and a two-goal lead.

Inside two minutes to play in the game, Seattle got on the board late, pulling back to within a goal. After winning back the puck in the corner, in the offensive zone, the Kraken fed defenseman Brandon Montour at the left point. Montour wired a slap shot through traffic and in for Montour’s sixth goal of the season, with forward Oliver Bjorkstrand and Yanni Gourde collecting the assists on the play.

Hear from Byfield, Fiala, goaltender David Rittich and Head Coach Jim Hiller following today’s win.

Quinton Byfield
On scoring tonight and snapping a drought without one
It feels good. I feel like I’ve got my chances, same as Foegy as well, I feel like we’ve been playing well enough to be rewarded a little bit more, but that’s just hockey. Sometimes you get the bounces, sometimes you don’t. When that one went in, I was pretty happy there and just happy for the power play as well.

On having his goal come on the power play, after an 0-for-5 night against Buffalo
Yeah, I feel like at practice, we were moving puck around a lot and obviously [against] Buffalo, we got a lot of chances at it and we were right there. Finally today, first time in a while we’ve scored a power-play goal and I felt like everything was clicking. Great pass from Kev there and we just wanted to get pucks to the net, that was our mindset there, to shoot, and it worked.

On remaining confident during stretches where goals have been harder to come by
Yeah, it’s obviously tough, you do think about it, but you’ve got to stay positive. I’ve learned from the best in Kopi, all the time he’s just even-keeled. I look at his attitude & go off that. For myself, always try to be happy, that’s just my personality, always just doing that and I don’t want to get anyone else down around me. When it comes, it comes nicely and hopefully more [often].

Kevin Fiala
On getting one to go on the power play
Sometimes it goes in, sometimes not, I think the last few games, we’ve been working good on the power play on the ice in the games and it didn’t go in. Hopefully this one opens the gates a little bit in the future.

On seeing Quinton Byfield get a goal, especially the way he scored it
He played a great game, also for him, he’s been playing good in my opinion it just didn’t go in. Hopefully his gates open as well. You could see it on his face, it can get frustrating, especially when it doesn’t go in for a few games here and there. More important thing is that he sticks with it.

On continuing to work on the power play and seeing improvements
I think just as much as possible not overthinking it. We’ve been working on it a lot, 5-on-0, different units, different positions. At the end of the day, it’s just a game, it’s just a power play and you kind of have to realize that. You just have to take your chances and don’t overthink it, don’t overpass. If you get a shot, you go to the net, you screen the goalie a little bit and when the puck is bouncing your way, it’s going to go in.

David Rittich
On the team’s play tonight and getting the 2-1 victory
I think we played really well the last couple [games], so it wasn’t just today, but today we did something extra with obviously scoring goals, which gives us the opportunity to win. It was a good team win.

On the team’s consistent play defensively this season
As you can see, we’ve got a pretty deep team and that’s all that matters if somebody gets hurt. Obviously, Drew is a huge, huge part of this team and it’s an opportunity for other guys to step up and they’re going a great job. Vladdy is playing on his off side and he’s amazing there.

On his attempt at the empty net late in regulation
Sometimes, it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity, just Clarkie stood in the middle of the goal, but it’s whatever, I’ll take the cleared zone and the two points.

Jim Hiller

Notes –
• Forward Quinton Byfield 1-0=1) scored his third goal of the season for his 10th point of the campaign. The goal marked the first of his career scored against Seattle. Byfield skated in his 200th career NHL game this afternoon. In doing so, Byfield becomes the eighth skater selected in the 2020 NHL Draft to reach such mark.
• With his goal today, Byfield becomes the 19th skater in franchise history to score a goal in his 200th career game, the first to do so since forward Carl Grundstrom (1-0=1) on Nov. 11, 2023 vs. PHI. Byfield becomes the third skater in franchise history to score a goal in both his 100th career game and his 200th career game, joining Sean Avery and Luc Robitaille.
• Per NHL PR, Byfield’s tally stands as the game-winning goal and counts as his 98th career point (31-67=98). Among players to debut with the franchise, the last player to have as many points through that game count is Tyler Toffoli (60-63=123).
• Forward Adrian Kempe (1-0=1) scored his 10th goal of the season, becoming the first Kings skater to reach double-digit goals this season. With the goal, Kempe has now scored in back-to-back games against Seattle (1-0=1; April 3, 2024), as well as scoring five goals over his last four games (5-0=5), dating back to Nov. 23, 2024.
• Forward Alex Turcotte (0-1=1) collected his fifth assist and sixth point of the season. The set-up on Kempe’s opening tally marks Turcotte’s first career point against the Seattle Kraken and Turcotte’s former USA NTDP teammate, Matty Beniers.
• Forward Kevin Fiala (0-1=1) recorded his sixth assist and 13th point this season. The Swiss winger (2-13=15) has now surpassed Ryan-Nugent Hopkins (1-12=13) for the second-most assists against the Kraken all-time, five behind first-place Leon Draisaitl (5-18=23).
• Forward Anze Kopitar (0-2=2) tallied his 17th and 18th assists of the season. Kopitar now has eight points in his last five outings (0-8=8) to bring his career total to 1,234 points (424-810=1,234).
• Kopitar is now two assists away from tying Pierre Turgeon (812) and Evgeni Malkin (812) for 33rd most assists in NHL history and has now passed Hall of Fame blueliner Phil Housley (338-894=1,232) for 43rd on the League’s all-time scoring list.
• Goaltender David Rittich turned aside 19 of 20 shots faced to improve his record to 7-5-0 on the season. This marked his third straight start allowing only one goal against.

The Kings are scheduled to practice tomorrow at 11 AM at Toyota Sports Performance Center, before flying to San Jose later in the day.