The Kings went right through the Hurricanes on Saturday afternoon at Crypto.com Arena, defeating the hottest team in the NHL 7-2. Taking down a Hurricanes team that entered the day on an eight-game winning streak, the dominant win now gives the Kings wins in seven of their last eight games. The two points earned now moves the Kings into a temporary tie for second place in the Pacific Division with the Edmonton Oilers, each team with 85 points. With an Oilers game set to drop the puck later today, the Kings will have a pair of games in hand come day’s end.
The Hurricanes had allowed just 10 goals during their eight-game winning streak (1.25 GAA), but the Kings shifted that narrative quickly by netting three goals in the first 20 minutes. Taking the lead 3:03 into the game, Kings leading goalscorer Adrian Kempe broke the scoreless tie immediately after hopping onto the ice. With the Kings in the middle of a shift change it was rookie Samuel Helenius who won a puck battle along the boards at center ice and found a streaking Kempe. Kempe entered the zone without any teammates, pulled the puck into his body as he ripped a wrist shot around the stick of Brent Burns, beating Pyotr Kochetkov blocker side off the post. It took some time before the Kings doubled their lead, but it came on the power play with 5:21 to go in the first. Collecting his first point as an LA King, Andrei Kuzmenko found Anze Kopitar with a beautiful pass across the crease. Kopitar quickly attempted to find Kempe at the top of the crease but his pass deflected off of a Hurricanes defenseman and into the net. Kopitar’s goal stops a five-game drought while Kuzmenko earns assist and point number one in his new threads. With Kuzmenko now on the scoresheet, it took just 5:16 for the winger to double his point total. With only five seconds remaining in the period, Kempe found Kuzmenko entering the offensive zone with speed. Kuzmenko gathered and rifled a shot past Kochetkov for his seventh goal of the season. Despite being outshot by Hurricanes 13-6 in the opening 20 minutes, the Kings led 3-0.
The Kings kept it rolling in the first ten minutes of the second. Adding another three goals, the Kings went up 6-0 with 11:19 remaining in the second period. Putting the Kings up 4-0 just under six minutes into the period was Trevor Moore, who took advantage of a Hurricanes team that got too deep in the Kings zone. With a turnover by the Hurricanes in the Kings defensive zone, the line of Moore, Phillip Danault and Warren Foegele headed on their way to the offensive zone with numbers. Danault found a trailing Moore wide open in the high slot and the California native went bar down for his 15th goal of the season and his second in as many games. The red hot Kings fourth line then extended the lead to 4-0 only 51 seconds later. After a Drew Doughty point shot didn’t make it to the net Alex Turcotte won the battle for the loose puck in the slot and found linemate Tanner Jeannot on the weakside for a one-timer goal, his sixth of the season. Turcotte’s assist gives him points in back-to-back games. It then took the Kings just under two minutes to make it a 6-0 lead. Also coming on a beautiful backdoor pass, Quinton Byfield’s shot on the rush went unsuccessful but created a rebound. Kevin Fiala gathered that rebound, found Byfield who had rounded the net and set up alongside the crease and the center buried his 18th goal of the season. Byfield’s goal extends his home goal streak to five games and his home point streak to eight games, totaling (6-5=11). The Hurricanes did find the back of the net and that came with 5:43 to go in the middle stanza. A point shot by Dmitry Orlov was deflected in front of the net off of Joel Edmundson’s stick and through the five hole of David Rittich. With Logan Stankoven alongside Edmundson next to the crease at the time of the deflection, the Kings challenged the goal for goaltender interference. The call stood and gave the Hurricanes a small window of hope as a delay of game penalty was assessed for the incorrect challenge. The Kings penalty promptly shut that door and sent the game into the third period leading 6-1.
The third period saw two more goals, one from each team. The Kings made 7-1 with 1:53 remaining in regulation, but who was involved was the key to this goal. Setting up Fiala for his second point of the game was Alex Laferriere. Significant for multiple reasons, Fiala’s goal gives him 56 multi-point games since joining the Kings, passing Kempe’s 55 games for the most since Fiala joined the team in 2022. Laferriere’s assist also proved to be important as the New Jersey native’s helper gave every forward at least one point on the night. A goal by Mark Jankowski eight seconds after the Kings goal made it 7-2, but that was it.
Rittich was outstanding when tested stopping 34 or 36 shots, earning his 14th win of the season.
