FINAL – Kings 3, Oilers 0 – Kopitar, Laferriere, Hiller

The LA Kings shutout the Edmonton Oilers by a final score of 3-0 on Saturday afternoon at Crypto.com Arena.

Period one came and went without a goal in either direction and without a ton of scoring chances at either end.

Just shy of the game’s halfway mark, the Kings got on the board as forward Kevin Fiala reached the 30-goal mark for the second time in his NHL career. Fiala started the play in the neutral zone, weaving his way through and finding forward Alex Laferriere down the right wing. Laferriere’s shot was blocked in front, but the rebound fell to Fiala in the crease, where he put home the goal for a 1-0 lead.

Inside four minutes to play in the middle stanza, forward Andrei Kuzmenko continued his productive run as he made it 2-0 Kings. Kuzmenko took the puck from linemate Adrian Kempe in the right-hand circle, picked his spot inside the far post and beat Edmonton goaltender Calvin Pickard clean on the blocker side to double his team’s lead. Kuzmenko now has points in four straight games with the goal.

Inside the final few minutes of the game, forward Trevor Lewis scored on the empty net, his sixth goal of the season, sealing the deal with a 3-0 victory for the two points.

Hear from Laferriere, forward Anze Kopitar and Head Coach Jim Hiller following tonight’s win.

Alex Laferriere

Anze Kopitar
On the notion of a playoff preview of sorts with Edmonton tonight
I think we’re used to those guys and obviously they’re used to us, we’ve played them enough over the past three years. With them having the two big boys out, but they played hard, they had us working for everything and it’s good for us, obviously, to get the win, but just the way we played, too. I think we can take a lot of positives out of it.

On the fit Andrei Kuzmenko has been on his line
He’s obviously a high skill guy. His offensive-zone play is very impressive, how he creates stuff when you don’t necessarily think that he can create. He’s been getting on the scoresheet, so it’s definitely good for the confidence. Hopefully we can keep on rolling.

On tonight’s win going towards the potential of gaining home-ice advantage in Round 1
There’s going to be times in the playoffs when you’ve got to win on the road too. We have confidence in this team. Would it be nice to start at home? Of course. It’s something that’s there for the taking, but we’re going game by game and building our game. When the first game rolls around, we’ll be ready.

On if he feels like there has been a different sort of vibe around the team this spring
It’s a confident group, yeah, I mean, that’s what we’ll give you. We’ve been playing pretty well. Some nights, not necessarily the greatest hockey, but still gets it done, so that’s something we want to continue building and make sure we’re ready when playoffs roll around.

On finding ways to win even without their best stuff in certain games
Yeah, of course, you’ve got to find a way to win hockey games in different ways. I think the biggest attribute is it’s really the scoring has been spread throughout the lineup, really. I mean, yeah, you have Juice and Kevin getting 30 but everybody else has been chipping in on any given night and it’s great to see.

Jim Hiller
On his impressions from today’s victory
I like to evaluate us first and I thought we were just very average in the first period, but then played very well in the second and third. They’re a good team no matter what, they won three in a row, we talked that coming in. We didn’t like how we played in the first and I really liked the second and third. So, we’ll measure on that from our side.

On the mentality shown in defeat an under-manned Edmonton squad
We knew it was going to be good game. They checked hard. They check hard when everybody’s in the lineup, they check hard when they’re missing a few guys. I can tell you this, the guys in their room, I’m pretty sure they would have liked nothing more than to come into this building and beat us without the players that they don’t have right now. I’m sure they were ready for that. I’m sure that conversation took place in their room. So, we had to be ready for that. I thought they played really well, it was a close game.

On the play of Kevin Fiala, today and as of late
He’s playing his best. I’m going to say, over the last week, he’s played as well as I’ve seen him play. So, we’ve got a ways to go, but if you’ve noticed, he’s backchecking, lifting sticks forechecking, he tracked somebody down the other night, stole the puck. Beyond the 30 goals and I’m really happy for him, because he hasn’t had the best season, and he’s sitting here with 30 goals. That’s not easy to do. Right now, with the way he’s playing, I couldn’t be happier with him.

On his impressions on his fourth line as of late, after injuries to Turcotte and Jeannot
We were all so excited about Jeanno, Turc and Sami, we talked about it here night after night. I think it took a little time, but now I see some real chemistry coming in between Lewie, Malott and Helenius and it’s important, those are important minutes. We were saying [Malott] had a highlight fight, his fight in the NHL was a highlight-reel fight and this would have been a highlight-reel goal. It’s too bad it came back on an inch, that’s the rules, ut what a way to start. Mally’s done a really good job. He’s really adapted to the NHL, at this time of the season, when you can’t get your feet wet, you’re thrown right in the frying pan. He’s just done a really good job.

On being one point away from clinching a playoff spot and the pride that comes with that
I haven’t thought about a lot. I would say, I think, for every organization in the league, I’ll say organization top to bottom, that includes the fans, to make the playoffs is an outstanding achievement for everybody involved. It really is. You can say, well, some teams have made it x amount [of times], well, good for them. They’ve done a nice job with their organization and with their fans to get into the playoffs year after year. This is not easy to do, so I can tell you, from an organizational standpoint, we’ll be very proud if we make the playoffs.

On his desire to earn home-ice advantage in the postseason
We’d certainly like to earn it. For some reason this year in particular, we played extremely well here at home, so you’d like to have that advantage, nut there’s lots of hockey left to play. You can’t look past anybody. Everybody in the league is……you’ve seen us play enough times, we’ve probably had five or six wins that haven’t necessarily come down right to the wire in the end and it doesn’t matter who we play. So, we’ve got to make sure we’re just taking care of the business, one game at a time, and see where it lands.

Notes –
• Forward Kevin Fiala (1-0=1) scored the opening goal of tonight’s game to clinch his second career 30-goal campaign (33G in 2021-22) and now has tallies in back-to-back games (1-0=1 vs. UTA). With the goal, Fiala becomes just the third Swiss-born skater in league history to record two or more seasons with at least 30 goals, joining Nico Hischier (2022-23 and 2024-25) and Timo Meier (2018-19, 2021-22 and 2022-23). Since his debut with the club in the 2022- 23 season, Fiala’s four goals against the Oilers are tied with Trevor Moore and Quinton Byfield for the most among King’s skaters in that time frame.
• Fiala joins Adrian Kempe as the second 30-goal scorer for the Kings this season. It marks the first season since the 2007-08 campaign the team has had multiple 30-goal scorers.
• Winger Andrei Kuzmenko (1-0=1) scored his 11th goal of the season and fifth in a Kings uniform to extend his home goal and point streaks to three games (3-4=7). Since joining the Kings, Kuzmenko has collected 11 points in 16 games played, the fifth-most on the team in that span.
• Forward Adrian Kempe (0-1=1) recorded 31st helper of the season for his 200th career assist. The assist extends his point streak (4-2=6) to a fourth game, dating back to March 30 versus the San Jose Sharks.
• With his 200th career helper, Kempe becomes just the eighth Kings skater to tally at least 200 assists in his first 625 career games, joining Dave Taylor (433 A), Luc Robitallie (406 A), Anze Kopitar (349 A), Butch Goring (307 A), Rob Blake (271 A), Drew Doughty (243 A) and Dustin Brown (203 A).
• Forward Alex Laferriere (0-1=1) picked up his 20th assist of the season, reaching the 20-helper mark for the first time in his career. Laferriere becomes the 21st skater selected in the 2020 NHL Draft to record a 20-assist season, the first skater selected in the third round of that Draft to do so. Laferriere becomes the eighth different New Jersey-born forward to record a 20-assist campaign, and the first to do so as a member of the Kings.
• Defenseman Drew Doughty (0-1=1) notched his 13th assist of the season, his 30th career assist against the Oilers. Doughty becomes the second defenseman in Kings history to record 30 assists against Edmonton, joining Rob Blake (31A), while his 43 career points against Edmonton (13-30=43) sits one point shy of tying Blake (13-31=44) for the most points against the Oilers by a Kings defenseman.
• Defenseman Jordan Spence (0-1=1) collected his 22nd assist of this campaign, marking his 25th point of the year (3-22=25) to set a new single season career-high.
• Captain Anze Kopitar skated in his 70th career regular season game against the Oilers today, becoming the third skater in franchise history to do so, while Drew Doughty played in his 60th career regular season game against Edmonton, becoming the sixth skater and first defenseman in Kings history to do so.
• Forward Trevor Lewis (1-0=1) scored his sixth goal of the season, the fourth of his career scored at home against the Oilers, breaking a tie with Steve Konowalchuk for sole possession of the most home goals scored against the Oilers by a Utah-born player.
• Goaltender Darcy Kuemper turned aside all 27 of Edmonton’s shots on goal to secure his fifth shutout of the season and improve his record to 28-10-7 on the campaign. Per NHL PR, Kuemper became the fifth goaltender in the NHL’s expansion era (since 1967-68) to allow two or fewer goals in 13 consecutive starts. He joins Miikka Kiprusoff (16 GS in 2003-04), Dwayne Roloson (14 GS in 2003-04), Martin Brodeur (14 GS in 1997-98) and Dominik Hasek (13 GS in 1993-94).

The Kings are scheduled to practice tomorrow at 11 AM at Toyota Sports Performance Center.