The Kings got their first point of the season, but not the win. The Kings lose to Sharks 5-4 in overtime on Saturday night at SAP Center. Igor Chernyshov scored twice for San Jose, including a one-timer at 3:18 of 3-on-3 overtime set up by Macklin Celebrini. The Kings fell behind 3-1 and 4-2 and came back both times. Their power play scored twice and the top line created chances all night, but they are 0-1-1 heading into Tuesday’s home opener.
Kings Lose to Sharks: How It Happened
The Kings opened the scoring with their first power-play goal of the season. At 15:50 of the first period, Artemi Panarin threaded a seam pass to Adrian Kempe in the right circle, and Kempe one-timed it past Yaroslav Askarov. The Kings outshot San Jose 10-6 in the period.
The second period went the other way. Alex Laferriere took a roughing minor at the end of the first, and Tyler Toffoli tapped in a power-play goal 1:48 into the second off a feed from rookie Ivar Stenberg, the No. 2 pick in the 2026 draft, for his first NHL point. At 9:52, Kiefer Sherwood picked off an Erik Haula cross-ice pass in the Kings’ zone and scored from the slot. At 12:32, Nolan Allan scored through Anton Forsberg’s five-hole after a feed from Michael Misa, making it 3-1.
The Kings answered with their second power-play goal in the final two seconds of the period. Celebrini was called for slashing late in the frame, and Mats Zuccarello fed Quinton Byfield in the right circle. Byfield roofed a wrist shot over Askarov’s shoulder to make it 3-2.
Chernyshov restored the two-goal lead at 4:08 of the third. Toffoli sent him in with a stretch pass, he split the defense, and he beat Forsberg with a backhand. The Kings kept coming. At 10:21, Haula won a faceoff, went to the net and deflected an Erik Gustafsson point shot past Askarov. With exactly five minutes left in regulation, Kempe’s forecheck forced a turnover, Byfield picked up the loose puck and Panarin buried a one-timer to tie it 4-4.
The Kings had most of the puck in overtime, but Celebrini carried it up the middle and slid it to Chernyshov at the left circle. His one-timer beat Forsberg on the glove side.
Scoring Summary
- 1st, 15:50 LAK (PP): Adrian Kempe (Panarin, Clarke)
- 2nd, 1:48 SJS (PP): Tyler Toffoli (Stenberg, Celebrini)
- 2nd, 9:52 SJS: Kiefer Sherwood (unassisted)
- 2nd, 12:32 SJS: Nolan Allan (Misa, Chernyshov)
- 2nd, 19:58 LAK (PP): Quinton Byfield (Zuccarello, Kempe)
- 3rd, 4:08 SJS: Igor Chernyshov (Toffoli, Trouba)
- 3rd, 10:21 LAK: Erik Haula (Gustafsson, Clarke)
- 3rd, 15:00 LAK: Artemi Panarin (Byfield)
- OT, 3:18 SJS: Igor Chernyshov (Celebrini)
Laviolette: “A Ton of Fight in the End”
Peter Laviolette is still waiting for his first win with the Kings, and he was blunt about the result. “It’s tough. Again, the score didn’t go our way, so we’re chasing the game a little bit,” he said. “I thought that there was a ton of fight in the end. I really liked the way we played the overtime and I hate the result.”
He liked the response after the fourth Sharks goal. “They end up popping one, again, they get the fourth, and we didn’t stop there,” Laviolette said. “We just kept going and I just really liked the fight in the guys today.”
He praised the top line by its nicknames. “I thought they were excellent the entire night. QB, Bread and Kemps were really, I thought, pretty dynamic and generated an awful lot for us,” he said. Byfield, Panarin and Kempe each had a goal and an assist and each played more than 22 minutes.
The Power Play Breaks Through
After going 0-for-4 in Denver, the Kings went 2-for-3 on the power play. According to LA Kings Insider, it was the first time since October 22, 2015, that the Kings scored more than one power-play goal in a game in San Jose. San Jose went 1-for-2.
“Our power play wasn’t great the first game, so scoring two this game really kind of boosts it,” Byfield said. He said the difference was time and space: “Colorado was a lot of pressure, and tonight, it felt like we could almost set up some of our plays a little bit more. We seamed it, had some traffic, got a lot of pucks to the net.”
Laviolette counted a lot of near-misses as well. “They moved it well. I thought that they got plenty of looks,” he said, adding that he thought the Kings hit plenty of crossbars and posts.
Rush Defense: Better, Not Fixed
Friday’s practice focused on odd-man rushes, as we covered in our game-day preview. Byfield thought it helped. “Feels like we didn’t give up as many odd-man rushes,” he said. “It’s something that the F3 has to stay above a little bit, especially when our D are pinching. So, I feel like we cleaned that up a bit.”
But the goals that hurt came off mistakes and transition: Haula’s intercepted pass, Toffoli’s stretch pass to Chernyshov and the overtime winner. The Kings outshot San Jose 35-25 and won 34 of 64 faceoffs, but they also had 19 giveaways.
Lineup and Goaltending Notes
- Forsberg started, not Kuemper. Anton Forsberg made 20 saves on 25 shots in his season debut, and Darcy Kuemper backed up. Askarov stopped 31 of 35 for San Jose.
- 11 forwards, seven defensemen. Corey Perry (9:57, three shots) and Erik Gustafsson (17:15, one assist) made their season debuts. Samuel Helenius and Andre Lee came out.
- Kempe climbs the record book. According to LA Kings Insider, Kempe now has 23 career points against San Jose, passing Tomas Sandström for 10th in Kings history, and 476 career points, three behind Jim Fox for 11th.
- Firsts as Kings: Haula’s first goal, plus first points for Zuccarello and Gustafsson. Brandt Clarke had two assists, and Panarin leads the team with three points.
The Sharks’ Side
San Jose is 2-0-0 for the first time since 2021-22 and has won its first two games of a season in overtime for the first time in franchise history, per NHL.com. Celebrini had two more assists. Coach Ryan Warsofsky was not satisfied anyway: “We won the game, that’s good, but we gotta get going here. We can’t just rely on skill.” The Kings and Sharks meet again November 4 at Crypto.com Arena.
Watch: Kempe, Byfield and Laviolette Postgame
What’s Next
The Kings had Sunday off and return to practice Monday at 11 a.m. in El Segundo. Then comes the home opener:
- Tuesday, Oct. 6: home opener vs. Florida Panthers, Crypto.com Arena, 7 p.m. PT
- Saturday, Oct. 10: at Vegas Golden Knights, T-Mobile Arena, 7 p.m. PT
The Kings set an NHL record with 33 overtime games last season, so this kind of game is familiar. The goal Tuesday is to finally turn the chances into two points. More on the season opener is in our Colorado recap. Follow InfanityTV for full Kings coverage.
