FINAL – Kings 4, Golden Knights 6 – Panarin, Byfield, Hiller

The LA Kings came out of the break with a disappointing, 6-4 defeat against the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday evening at Crypto.com Arena.

Vegas opened the scoring, as the visitors capitalized on a 2-on-1 rush to get on the board. Forward Tanner Laczynski led the rush down the left wing and although his shot missed the net, kicking off the endboards, the puck bounced back into the middle of the ice, directly to forward Pavel Dorofeyev, where he buried his 27th goal of the season to put the Golden Knights ahead early in the game.

The Kings tied the game later in the first period with one of their best power plays of the season. Operating off the left-wall, forward Artemi Panarin fired a pass through the slot that deflected off the skate of forward Quinton Byfield, on net and in for Panarin’s first point as a member of the Kings organization. Byfield’s goal was his 12th of the season, with defenseman Brandt Clarke collecting the secondary helper.

With just over five minutes remaining in the second period, the Kings took their first lead of the evening with a highlight-reel goal in transition. Panarin made the first pass, to forward Anze Kopitar in the slot, where the captain showed incredible composure in transition, feeding forward Adrian Kempe charging through the middle of the ice, where he buried his team-leading 21st goal of the season for the 2-1 lead.

The Golden Knights tied the game just over eight minutes into the third period, as forward Colton Sissons buried his fourth goal of the season. Attacking off the rush, a shot attempt by forward Braeden Bowman was flubbed, but the puck bounced off a Kings skate, directly to Sissons at the back post, where he worked the puck into the back of the net to knot the score at two goals apiece.

The visitors tacked on two more goals in a span of just 65 seconds to open up a multi-goal lead in the third period.

First, forward Brandon Saad found himself with some space in the high slot and beat Kings goaltender Anton Forsberg from distance for his third goal of the season, putting the Golden Knights back in front. Just over a minute later, Reilly Smith made it 4-2 with a nice individual effort, as he worked his way

Byfield made it a multi-goal game shortly after Smith’s goal, pulling the hosts back within one. Forward Andrei Kuzmenko put in some good work below the goal line, as he worked his way through a pair of Vegas defensemen to jar the puck loose, which Byfield collected, pulled to the front of the net and finished into the roof of the net, bringing the Kings back to within 4-3.

Skating on a late-game power play, Vegas made it 5-3 with Dorofeyev’s second goal of the game. Dorofeyev beat Byfield to the back post and buried a feed from Laczynski for his 28th goal of the season, with the visitors taking a 5-3 lead with 4:01 left in the third period.

The Kings added a late consolation goal from defenseman Brandt Clarke, who buried from the center point with 66 seconds on the clock, before Vegas ice the game with an empty-net goal from forward Ivan Barbashev to seal a 6-4 win.

Hear from Panarin, Byfield and Head Coach Jim Hiller following tonight’s defeat.

Artemi Panarin

Quinton Byfield
On the five minute stretch that saw 2-1 become 4-2
They kind of just got momentum and converted on a couple there. Then, we got one back and then the PK, that’s a big PK and I’ve got to stop the guy from scoring there and it could have turned out differently as well.

On if tonight was a missed opportunity against a team missing several key players
Yeah, I think so. I think playing them and Edmonton, two big, divisional opponents, are big games for us. Obviously they still played really good, all the guys came and checked hard, played hard, but missing their top guys is an opportunity that you can’t miss.

On how he felt four new forward lines came together in their first game
I think there’s some chemistry here and there……I think there’s some chemistry here and there. Bread looked really good, he made a ton of plays. There’s some stuff that we can build on.

On the power play with Artemi Panarin involved
Yeah, I mean, we only got one, but he changes the whole dynamic of the power play. He makes so many good plays and we’re all just trying to get open for him.

On the most disappointing takeaways from tonight’s loss
I think a big focus for us coming out of the break was kind of tightening up a little bit defensively. Obviously giving up five and the empty netter as well, it’s something that we’ve got to get better at it. That’s what we’re known for, is our defense, and that’s not just one position, that’s all six guys on the ice. I think we can look at that and grow there.

Jim Hiller
On losing to a team as shorthanded as Vegas was tonight
They played hard. So, it’s the NHL. They played hard. They’re missing some of their high-end guys, they made it hard on us, they checked hard. We had an opportunity, clearly, to win the game, and made three mistakes in four minutes and all three of them ended up in the back of the net.

On if he believes the Kings respected the situation enough tonight, considering all that was at stake
I believe they did. Yeah, I believe they did. I mean, when you take that group of guys out, they create offense. The guys that go in, they’re just in there checking, working hard and staying above you, forechecking, they put the puck in a lot. So, they made it hard on us to create a lot of chances, but we just can’t give them five goals. That’s where the breakdown is. It’s not the fact that we didn’t get seven, it’s the fact that we gave them five, I don’t count the empty net. So, it’s a combination of things, for sure.

On collecting only 19 shots on goal and fewer shot attempts than the team is accustomed to
We weren’t dangerous offensively. I don’t know, in these games coming back, we were watching some games before it started, they were pretty low scoring. I would say the execution is probably not at a high level offensively right now. There wasn’t a lot of shots either way. To have a game where that many goals go in, there were I guess, looks that that made it difficult for the goalie, but there weren’t a lot of looks either way.

On Artemi Panarin’s first game as an LA King
He got two assists, he had some other chances, set up some other plays, I think he gave us what he what he’s going to give us. That line together, despite playing their first game, I thought looked like they had chemistry. They moved the puck around between the three of them pretty well. That’s probably the positive from the evening. He’s a great player, you saw that tonight and you’ve seen that from last 10, 12 years in the league.

On the balance between patience and changes with four new forward lines, as they gel and build chemistry
We’ll have to go through. I mean, Panarin, Kempe and Laferriere, we were happy with that line Byfield scores two, one on the power play, playing with Kopi. We didn’t create a lot, it was more about what and how we gave those goals up in the third period. They didn’t have a lot of chances either, but those were too good of looks from too good of spots.

On if the breakdowns on those goals were individual mistakes or structural breakdowns
It’s a combination. There were individual mistakes that obviously effected it as well. It’s usually a combination of both and there were a couple of instances where there were mistakes.

Notes –
– Forward Quinton Byfield (2-0=2) scored his 12th goal of the season, his fourth strike on the man-advantage, before following with his 13th goal of the year to secure his first multi-goal effort of the campaign. In doing so, Byfield tied both Alex Laferriere (13 G) and Andrei Kuzmenko (13 G) the third-most goals by a Kings skater on the campaign.
– Forward Adrian Kempe (1-1=2) fired home his team-leading 21st goal and 27th assist (21-27=48) of the season. With his pace-setting 10th multi-point game of the campaign tonight, Kempe has 12 points (6-6=12) in his last 10 games played, and 14 points (4-10=14) in his last 12 games against the Golden Knights.
– Defenseman Brandt Clarke (1-1=2) collected his 22nd assist and ninth power play point (1-8=9) of the campaign. With the assist, Clarke ties his career-high (2-7=9 in 2024-25) nine power play points. Clarke then scored his seventh goal of the season to leapfrog also ties Corey Perry (11-17=28) for sole possession of fourth-most points on the team in points with (7-22=29.)
– Forward Artemi Panarin (0-2=2) recorded an assist on Byfield’s power play tally, marking the 34-year-old’s first point as a member of the LA Kings. By finding the scoresheet in his debut appearance in black-and-silver, Panarin has now recorded points in his inaugural game with four different franchises (CHI, CBJ, NYR & LAK). The only active players to do so with more teams are Erik Gustafsson, Evander Kane and Anthony Duclair (all w/ 5). Ray Whitney has performed the feat the most among all skaters in NHL history, scoring in his debut with eight different franchises, per NHL PR.
– The native of Korkino, Russia, became the third Kings player in the past 20 years to record multiple assists in their team debut, following Vladimir Tkachev (0-2=2 on Oct. 14, 2021) and Ryan Smyth (0-2=2 on Oct. 3, 2009), per NHL PR. Panarin then provided an assist on Kempe’s go-ahead marker in the second period, his 40th helper of the campaign. The 34-year-old winger has recorded 40 or more assists in each of his first 11 seasons, becoming the 41st different skater to reach the 40-assist mark 11 or more times. He joins Evgeni Malkin (12x) as just the second Russian-born skater to do so.
– Panarin also joins Jaromir Jagr (12 from 1995-96 – 2007-08) and Peter Stastny (11 from 1980-81 – 1990-91) as the third player born outside of North America to post a run of that length in NHL history. Panarin is the only active player with a streak of that length. The pair of assists were recorded in Panarin’s 400th career home game and mark the 299th and 300th home assists of his career. Panarin becomes the 10th Russian skater in NHL history to record 300 career home helpers, the first undrafted Russian skater to do so.
– Forward Andrei Kuzmenko (0-2=2) registered his 11th assist of the season on Byfield’s second tally of the evening before adding his 12th with a secondary helper on Clarke’s goal. Kuzmenko extends his home point streak to a third game (3- 2=5), dating back to Jan. 20 vs. NYR, and has now recorded six points (3-3=6) over his last five home games.
– Captain Anze Kopitar (0-1=1) notched his 17th assist of the year, extending his point streak against the Vegas Golden Knights to a fourth game (1-4=5), dating back to March 9, 2025. Kopitar’s assist marked the 1,301st point (446-855=1,301) of his career, breaking a tie with Jarome Iginla (625-675=1,300) for sole possession of the 38th-most points in League history. The captain is now just seven points shy of tying Marcel Dionne (550-757=1,307) for the most points in LA Kings franchise history.
– Kopitar concludes his 39th and final career regular-season meeting with the Vegas Golden Knights as the League’s all- time leader in goals (16), assists (28), points (16-28=45), and power play points (4-12=16) against the Pacific Division rival from Nevada. Kopitar also skated in his 1,496th career regular-season game tonight, breaking a tie with Phil Housley (1,495 GP) for sole possession of the of the 26th-most games played among all skaters in NHL history.
– Defenseman Drew Doughty played his 1,256th career game regular-season NHL game tonight, tying both Craig Ludwig and Duncan Keith for the 28th-most games played by a defenseman in League history.
– Defenseman Mikey Anderson played his 400th career game this evening, becoming the 15th defenseman in Kings history to reach the mark. The native of Roseville, Minn., joins St. Paul, Minn. native Craig Johnson (429 GP), as the only two Minnesota-born skaters to reach 400 games played with the franchise. Anderson becomes the sixth defenseman selected in the 2017 NHL Draft to reach the 400-game milestone. Among all skaters selected in 2017, Anderson’s career +73 plus/minus rating trails only Dallas’ Jason Robertson (+115) and Colorado’s Cale Makar (+164).

The Kings are back in action tomorrow evening as they host the Edmonton Oilers at 7:30 PM at Crypto.com Arena.