Doughty gets 3 points, Kings hold off Utah

LOS ANGELES -- Drew Doughty had a goal and two assists in the Los Angeles Kings’ 5-3 win against the Utah Hockey Club at Crypto.com Arena on Saturday.

“It was clearly his best game,” Los Angeles head coach Jim Hiller said of Doughty, who won the 4 Nations Face-off with Canada on Thursday.

Kevin Fiala had a power-play goal and an assist, Darcy Kuemper made 25 saves, and the Kings (30-17-7) have a five-game home point streak (4-0-1).

“Like Jimmy [Hiller] was saying before the game, I think the first four or five games out of break everybody’s gonna be a little rusty, like the beginning of the season. So the sooner we can get to that game sooner than the other teams, we’ll be in a good spot,” Los Angeles forward Alex Laferriere said.

Barrett Hayton had two power-play goals as part of the first NHL hat trick for Utah (24-24-9). Nick Schmaltz had two assists, and Connor Ingram made 21 saves.

“I thought we kind of left it all out there, played with good pace,” Hayton said. “Like I said, just a couple of plays that cost us tonight. Obviously it's a one-goal game and down the stretch there are going to be a lot of those games. Every team’s fighting. They’re fighting over there, it was a huge game for them as well and we need to find a way to come out on the right side of these.”

Hayton put Utah up 1-0 at 7:54 of the first period on the power play. He was at the top of the crease to deflect Schmaltz’s backhand shot from the left circle.

Doughty tied it up 1-1 at 8:22 on a one-timer from Fiala. It was Doughty’s first goal in seven games after breaking his left ankle in a preseason game against the Vegas Golden Knights on Sept. 25.

“I’m getting really close to feeling like myself,” Doughty said. “I expected to be myself that first game in Florida (when he made his season debut on Jan. 29) and did not work out that way at all, so you gotta look at that like I don’t know why I expected that. I was out for so long, but I knew it was gonna take a little bit to get it back, and hopefully I’m on the upward trajectory.”

Doughty hoped before the 4 Nations Face-off that the intensity and rigorous pace of best-on-best international hockey would help him get up to speed after such an extended absence, and the initial returns were positive.

“It was really good for Drew,” Hiller said. “I think it certainly looked like it worked out well for Team Canada. But I think, in the end, we’re probably the biggest benefactors, just getting him back in the rhythm that he is in.”

Hayton made it 2-1 at 5:50 of the second period, shooting another rebound by Schmaltz into an open net.

Fiala tied it up 2-2 at 7:59 on a one-timer from the right circle.

Laferriere gave Los Angeles a 3-2 lead at 16:10. He chased down Doughty’s long bouncing clearance to score on a breakaway with a backhand.

“I was gassed,” Doughty said. “Honestly, I did not see ‘Laf’ at all, so that was lucky.”

Trevor Lewis made it 4-2 at 9:41 of the third period, getting to the slot and backhanding in a rebound by Jordan Spence.

Hayton got his hat trick when he was alone under the left circle and swept Michael Carcone’s rebound into an open net, cutting it to 4-3 at 11:00. It was Hayton’s first career hat trick and fifth multi-goal game in 266 NHL appearances.

“I like the fact he got rewarded,” Utah head coach Andre Tourigny said. “We often talk about how much ‘Haytes’ plays the right way, he does everything right on and off the ice, has the right attitude, competes so hard. You cannot not cheer for him so really happy for him.”

Mikey Anderson, who returned after missing four games because of an upper-body injury, scored into an empty net at 18:30 for the 5-3 final.

NOTES: Utah defenseman Sean Durzi had an assist in 21:37 of ice time in his return after missing 52 games because of a shoulder injury that required surgery. … Kings center Anze Kopitar got his 825th career assist to tie Alex Delvecchio for 29th in NHL history. Kopitar’s 346 career penalty minutes is the fewest by a player with at least 825 assists, breaking a mark previously held by Delvecchio (383).