The Kings first home win of the season finally arrived Thursday night, but it took a lot more work than it should have. The Los Angeles Kings built a 5-1 lead over the Ottawa Senators through two periods at Crypto.com Arena, gave up four unanswered goals in the third period, and then won 6-5 when Quinton Byfield scored with 1:23 left in overtime. The win moved the Kings to 4-6-2 and 1-3-0 at home, and it opened a seven-game homestand with two points. Ottawa fell to 8-5-1.
How the Kings built a 5-1 lead
Ottawa scored first. Defenseman Tyler Kleven stepped up from the point and beat Darcy Kuemper at 11:24 of the first period, with assists from Fabian Zetterlund and Tim Stutzle. The Kings tied it on their first power play. Artem Zub was called for interference at 13:28, and at 15:09, with the second unit on the ice, Erik Haula tipped a Brandt Clarke point shot past Jonas Johansson. Drew Doughty had the second assist. It was Haula’s first goal at Crypto.com Arena and his first power-play point as a King.
The second period was the Kings’ best 20 minutes of the season, and Peter Laviolette said so afterward. The Kings outshot Ottawa 16-1 in the period, according to the ESPN box score, and scored four times:
- 6:51: Trevor Moore tipped in a Byfield backhand pass for a 2-1 lead. It was Moore’s first goal since opening night and Byfield’s first point since the second game of the season.
- 10:17: Mikey Anderson scored with a slap shot from the left point, through a Corey Perry screen. It was Anderson’s second goal in three games. Brian Dumoulin picked up the assist in his 800th career NHL game.
- 10:54: Joel Armia scored unassisted 37 seconds later to make it 4-1. Ottawa pulled Johansson, who had stopped 12 of 16 shots, and sent in Samuel Ersson.
- 15:43: Artemi Panarin scored his team-leading eighth goal of the season on a 5-on-3. The Kings had hit the post twice earlier in the same power play.
The 5-on-3 came out of an ugly sequence. At 11:15, Ottawa forward Hayden Hodgson was given a five-minute major for boarding and a game misconduct for a hit that sent Clarke into the boards. Haula took a roughing minor on the same play. Adrian Kempe went off for cross-checking at 12:07, and Thomas Chabot was called for hooking at 14:09, which gave the Kings two extra skaters. Clarke played 11:37 and did not return. Laviolette did not hold back about the hit: “That will get looked at, for sure. You can’t do that. That’s as dirty as there can be.”
Four goals in 11 minutes
Ottawa had one shot on goal in the second period and four goals in the third. The comeback started at 7:18, when Dylan Cozens found space in the slot after the Kings failed to clear the puck up the left-wing boards. Drake Batherson scored his eighth of the season 33 seconds later. At 12:23, Erik Gustafsson was called for interference, and Cozens scored again 11 seconds into the power play when a loose puck slid through the crease. That made it 5-4 with 7:26 left.
With Ersson pulled for an extra attacker, Shane Pinto tipped in a Batherson pass at 18:20 to tie the game at 5. Ottawa scored four times on 10 third-period shots. Kuemper made 17 saves on 22 shots but earned his fourth win.
Laviolette was honest about the third. “Third period, I thought it started okay in the first couple minutes and then it got off the rails,” he told LA Kings Insider. “We’ll take care of that tomorrow.” He also put the night in perspective: “We’re in the business of winning hockey games and we haven’t been getting that done to start the season. So, we got that done.”
Byfield ends it in overtime
The Kings controlled the extra period. Doughty kept the puck at the right point while the Kings changed, then fed Byfield as he came off the bench and skated through the slot. Byfield scored at 3:37 of overtime, his second goal of the season and the seventh overtime goal of his career. He finished with a goal, an assist, five shots on goal and a 13-9 record on faceoffs.
Byfield explained the plan in overtime: “You want to possess the puck, kind of tire them out, and let the next guy up come off,” he said, according to Yahoo Sports. “I just got lucky there.” Doughty credited the coaching staff. “It’s the first year in my whole career that we’ve ever actually worked on three-on-three,” he said. “A lot of credit to the coaches in that area.” The Kings are 2-2 in overtime this season. Laviolette said he thinks they “should be better than 2-2.”
Doughty’s night and other numbers
Doughty and Perry both returned after missing Tuesday’s game in Chicago. Doughty had three assists, was a plus-2 and played 22:54. According to NHL PR via LA Kings Insider, he is the second-oldest defenseman in NHL history to record three points in consecutive games, behind only Tim Horton in 1969. Perry played 17:59.
- Shots: Kings 38, Senators 22. By period, the Kings had 10, 16, 9 and 3. Ottawa had 9, 1, 10 and 2.
- Power play: Kings 2 for 7, Senators 1 for 4.
- Panarin: one goal, one assist, seven shots and 24:07 of ice time. He has a point in 11 straight games against Ottawa, according to LA Kings Insider.
- Shooters: Alex Laferriere had seven shots, and Kempe had five.
- Series: The Kings have earned a point in 13 straight games against Ottawa (10-0-3), dating back to Nov. 7, 2019.
Clarke and what’s next
Laviolette said after the game that Clarke was “still under examination,” and the Kings did not give a formal update Thursday night. ESPN’s injury page lists him as day-to-day with an upper-body injury, but the team has not confirmed when he will return.
The Kings practice Friday and host the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday, Oct. 31 at 1 p.m. PT, the second game of the homestand. Kevin Fiala, Mats Zuccarello and Alex Turcotte remain on injured reserve.
Notes and conflicts
- Overtime winner shot type: ESPN and AP describe it as a snap shot from the high slot. NHL.com describes a wrist shot from the top of the left circle. We describe it without naming the shot type.
- Doughty’s assist count: The ESPN play-by-play shows Doughty’s season assists reaching six. LA Kings Insider calls them his “fourth and fifth” assists while also listing three assists for the night. We report three assists in this game and leave the season total aside.
- Clarke’s status: ESPN lists a projected return date. That is a tracker projection, not a team announcement.
- Our preview: In Thursday’s preview, we said trackers projected Chabot to return around Oct. 31. He played Thursday, logging 22:37.
- Spelling: The AP dateline reads “LOS ANGLES,” and the LAKings.com recap spells Kleven as “Klevan” and Zetterlund as “Zettterlund.” We use the NHL spellings.
For more Kings coverage and NHL breakdowns, subscribe to Infanity TV on YouTube.
