Kevin Fiala and Trevor Moore scored 44 seconds apart in the third period to help the visiting Los Angeles Kings to a 4-2 win against the Utah Hockey Club on Thursday in Salt Lake City.Drew Doughty had a goal and an assist, Adrian Kempe also scored and Darcy Kuemper made 28 saves for Los Angeles (43-23-9, 95 points), which has won three in a row to help hold off the Edmonton Oilers for second place in the Pacific Division.Jack McBain had a goal and an assist, Lawson Crouse also scored and Karel Vejmelka stopped 15 shots in his 19th consecutive start for Utah (34-30-12, 80 points), which had won two in a row.The Kings took a 2-1 lead at 4:06 of the third period. Utah won a faceoff in its zone, but a pass into the middle by defenseman Olli Maatta was intercepted by Fiala alone in the slot, and he shot the puck into the net.Moore was then the first player down the ice for a puck that went deep in the Utah zone, and he beat Vejmelka one-one-one to make it 3-1 at 4:50.Doughty collected an empty-net goal to make it 4-1 with 1:50 left, and McBain scored on a power play with 20 seconds remaining to cut it to 4-2.The Kings were getting outshot 22-4 when Kempe scored on a controversial play to give Los Angeles a 1-0 lead at 6:56 of the second period.

Adrian Kempe and Warren Foegele both scored twice and Andrei Kuzmenko scored once in a three-point outing as the host Los Angeles Kings handed the San Jose Sharks an 8-1 drubbing on Sunday.Trevor Moore collected one goal and one assist, while Phillip Danault and Trevor Lewis added one goal apiece for the Kings (41-23-9, 91 points), who snapped a two-game skid and moved into second place in the Pacific Division.Anze Kopitar collected three assists, Drew Doughty, Vladislav Gavrikov and Quinton Byfield each posted two helpers and David Rittich made 22 saves as Los Angeles set a franchise record with its 27th home victory of the season.Cam Lund replied for the Sharks (20-44-9, 49 points), who have lost four of their last six and are last in the league. Goalie Georgi Romanov stopped 28 shots.Danault opened the scoring at the 5:35 mark, seconds after a Kings power play expired. Danault set up in the right circle and drilled a one-timer set up by Byfield's soft pass across the slot.Shortly after the Sharks failed to convert during a lengthy five-on-three power play - Macklin Celebrini came within a whisker with a shot that rang off the post - the Kings doubled the lead with a man-advantage marker. Kempe was untouched as he slipped into the slot and buried a feed from Anze Kopitar for his 30th goal of the season.Lund put the Sharks on the board at 4:52 of the second period, burying a rebound for his second goal in as many outings in his third career game.However, Moore restored the Kings' two-goal lead two minutes later, finishing a wide-open chance set up by Kopitar for an early 30th birthday present.

The Los Angeles Kings will look to start another home-ice points streak when they host the San Jose Sharks on Sunday night.The Kings (40-23-9, 89 points) had their franchise-record 15-game home points streak end with Saturday's 3-1 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs.Los Angeles holds second place in the Pacific Division, tied with the Edmonton Oilers but with one game in hand, and has lost two straight games.Saturday marked the first time this season the Kings fell in regulation time when leading after two periods."Every loss is frustrating, but going into the third with the lead and kind of shooting ourselves in the foot there, giving them too many opportunities, kind of sucks," forward Alex Laferriere said.Laferriere's goal had the Kings ahead early in the third period, but the lead disappeared with a dubious goal scored by Maple Leafs star Auston Matthews, who appeared to knock down the puck with a high stick moments before he tied the game.Toronto netted the winner during a five-on-three power play."You can look at that game and say that's kind of a playoff-style hockey game," Laferriere said. "It's a team that's up at the top of the leaderboard in the league, so it's a team we can match up against, and if a couple bounces go our way, we're winning that game."Fortunately for the Kings, they have a quick turnaround against a last-place club, although the Sharks have won the last two meetings between the California clubs."I think everyone was happy for the most part with how we played," Kings defenseman Mikey Anderson said. "So try and build off of it, come tomorrow, reset and go at it again."The Sharks, who sit at the bottom of the league standings and have long been eliminated from playoff contention, had their modest two-game winning streak snapped with a 6-1 thumping by the New York Rangers on Saturday.

John Tavares' first of two third-period goals broke a tie and the Toronto Maple Leafs rallied with three goals in the third for a 3-1 come-from-behind win over the host Los Angeles Kings on Saturday.Auston Matthews had a goal and an assist for the Maple Leafs (44-25-4, 92 points), who won for the second time in four games (2-1-1). Anthony Stolarz stopped 35 shots.Alex Laferriere scored for the Kings (40-23-9, 89 points), who lost their second straight. Darcy Kuemper made 23 saves.Tavares' power-play goal gave Toronto a 2-1 lead with 7:56 left. He put in the rebound of Matthews' shot. Tavares added an empty-net goal with 1:25 left. He has 35 goals, eight in his last five games and 13 in his past 14.Matthews' shorthanded goal 55 seconds into the third period tied the game 1-1. He scored on a shot from the right circle. The goal came seconds after Kuemper stopped Matthews on a breakaway and was Matthews' 29th.Kings' coach Jim Hiller challenged the goal because Matthews appeared to touch the puck above his shoulder after his breakaway attempt. But the challenge was denied and Los Angeles assessed a delay of game penalty.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are in a three-way fight for first place in the Atlantic Division with 10 games left entering their road contest against the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday.And despite a last-minute comeback to gain a point in their race against the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning, the Maple Leafs (43-25-4, 90 points) fell 6-5 in a shootout to the host San Jose Sharks on Thursday night.William Nylander and John Tavares scored in the last minute of regulation with goalie Joseph Woll pulled for the sixth attacker to send the game into overtime. But Will Smith and Macklin Celebrini scored in the shootout for the Sharks while Nylander picked up Toronto's lone tally.The Maple Leafs have lost two of their last three (1-1-1)."It was great to compete right to the end, find a way to earn a point," Tavares said. "(We) had plenty of opportunities to win that game in extra time. We got to find a little more consistency here."The tying goal, with 14 seconds left, was Nylander's second of the game to give him 42 for the season. Tavares added an assist to go along with his 33rd goal, while Auston Matthews had a goal and an assist and Scott Laughton also scored for Toronto. Mitch Marner had three assists and Woll made 30 saves.Nylander is the fourth Maple Leaf with three consecutive 40-goal seasons, joining Matthews, Rick Vaive and Lanny McDonald.Matthews has 28 goals this season and Marner has 89 points (22 goals, 67 assists)."We did a great job at the end of the game to get a point. We had a lot of good looks in OT that didn't go in," Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube said. "We didn't play well in the first period."

Martin Necas and Logan O'Connor scored 92 seconds apart in a three-goal second period and Mackenzie Blackwood turned away 22 shots as the surging Colorado Avalanche beat the Los Angeles Kings 4-0 in Denver on Thursday night.Necas finished with two goals and an assist and Jonathan Drouin had a goal and an assist as Blackwood notched his fourth shutout of the season and third with Colorado. Cale Makar had two assists for the Avalanche (45-25-3, 93 points), who have won four in a row and are 12-1-1 in their last 14 games.Nathan MacKinnon picked up an assist to extend his home point streak to 23 games. He has an NHL-best 108 points, three ahead of Tampa Bay's Nikita Kucherov.David Rittich made 22 saves for Los Angeles (40-22-9, 89 points), which had its four-game winning streak snapped.Both teams had great opportunities when the game was still scoreless. With 7:50 left in the first period, Jeff Malott intercepted a clearing attempt by Colorado in the right circle and was alone on Blackwood, but the goaltender made the save.Early in the second period, the Avalanche nearly got the first goal when a deflection went to the front of the net, but Rittich stopped Valerie Nichushkin's wrister to keep it scoreless.

The Colorado Avalanche are surging at the right time, but their 10-game home winning streak will be tested when they host the equally hot Los Angeles Kings on Thursday in Denver.Colorado (44-25-3, 91 points) is 11-1-1 in its past 13 games overall and 15-4-1 over the past 20, and sits in third place in the Central Division with nine games remaining. But Los Angeles (40-21-9, 89 points) is 9-1-0 in the last 10 games to move into second place in the Pacific Division.The Kings are five points behind the first-place Vegas Golden Knights in the Pacific Division but have played one fewer game. Thursday represents a chance to climb the standings and extend their winning streak to five games."I think it's just a bunch of guys in unison," Los Angeles winger Trevor Moore said. "The 'D' are playing awesome. The forwards are helping the 'D' out. You know, when we're all playing together, we're a really hard team to beat."Los Angeles wasn't busy at the trade deadline earlier this month but added forward Andrei Kuzmenko, who has two goals and two assists in 10 games with his new team -- all four points coming in the last three games. He has boosted the power-play unit, which is 6-for-23 (26 percent) since his arrival from the Philadelphia Flyers, well ahead of the team's 16.6 percent figure for the season."It looks a lot better, doesn't it, with Kuzmenko?" Kings coach Jim Hiller said. "Whether we score it or not, can we all agree that it looks a lot more dangerous?"Los Angeles is winning despite not having a player in the top 50 in the league scoring. Adrian Kempe leads the team with 58 points (29 goals, 29 assists), Anze Kopitar has 57 points (18 goals, 39 assists) and Kevin Fiala has 50 points (28 goals, 22 assists).The Avalanche have two players in the top 10 in scoring in the NHL, including league leader Nathan MacKinnon with 107 points (29 goals, 78 assists). Cale Makar has 82 points (27 goals, 55 assists) as he looks to become the first defenseman to have a 30-goal season since Mike Green did so for the Washington Capitals in 2008-09.Colorado's Artturi Lehkonen is third on the team in scoring with 43 points, including a career-high 27 goals. Valeri Nichushkin has 19 goals and 11 assists in just 34 games, and Martin Necas has eight goals and 14 assists in 23 games since coming over in the trade that sent Mikko Rantanen to Carolina.

Kevin Fiala and Phillip Daneault scored power-play goals 6:54 apart in the second period as the Los Angeles Kings extended their home winning streak to seven games and their team-record home points streak to 15 with a 3-1 victory over the New York Rangers on Tuesday night.Los Angeles (40-21-9, 89 points) scored multiple power play goals for the second time this season and moved two points ahead of the Edmonton Oilers for second place in the Pacific Division. The Kings also remained five points behind the Vegas Golden Knights for the division lead.J.T. Miller scored for the Rangers (34-32-6, 74 points,) who lost for the fifth time in six games and remained one point behind the Montreal Canadiens for the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. New York also has the same point total as the New York Islanders, who have two games in hand.Fiala added an empty-net goal with 16 seconds left on a delayed penalty for his fifth multi-goal game this season.Los Angeles goalie Darcy Kuemper made 22 saves. New York's Igor Shesterkin stopped 30 shots.

The Los Angeles Kings enter Tuesday's contest on a dominant run at home, while the New York Rangers battle for survival in the Eastern Conference wild-card race.While the Kings are seeking their seventh straight home win and to extend their home point streak to 15 games, the Rangers are attempting to stay afloat in the wild-card race Tuesday night when the teams get together in Los Angeles.The Kings (39-21-9, 87 points) are trying to earn home-ice advantage over the Edmonton Oilers while also attempting to close a five-point gap with the Vegas Golden Knights atop the Pacific Division. Los Angeles is helping both causes thanks to a dominant stretch that has seen them go 11-0-3 on home ice since its last regulation home loss on Jan. 20 against the Pittsburgh Penguins.Los Angeles saw its home dominance continue with a pair of impressive 7-2 victories over the Carolina Hurricanes and Boston Bruins in a weekend back-to-back set. On Sunday against Boston, 16 players recorded a point and the night before 13 players notched at least one point."It's impressive," Los Angeles coach Jim Hiller said after the Kings scored seven goals on consecutive days for the third time in team history. "That one, I think, we share with everybody, with our fans, with the city."Adrian Kempe scored Saturday and then assisted on goals by Anze Kopitar and Andrei Kuzmenko on Sunday when the Kings allowed the first goal 19 seconds into the contest and scored the final five goals.Kempe is on the verge of his third 30-goal season and has four goals and seven assists during the home points streak.Kopitar scored in both games and has five goals over his past 11 contests. Quentin Byfield also scored in both games, giving him eight goals in his past 10 contests along with goals in seven straight home games.Byfield and Kempe also scored while Kopitar registered two assists when the Kings rolled to a 5-1 rout in New York on Dec. 14.

The Los Angeles Kings scored the final five goals to break a 2-2 tie and cruised to a 7-2 win over the visiting Boston Bruins on Sunday night.Seven different players scored for Los Angeles (39-21-9, 87 points). Drew Doughty's goal at 8:46 of the second period began the game-winning run.Quinton Byfield and Tanner Jeannot each logged a goal and an assist, while Anze Kopitar, Warren Foegele, Andrei Kuzmenko, and Samuel Helenius also scored for Los Angeles, which moved in front of the Edmonton Oilers for second in the Pacific Division with a third straight win and eighth in the last nine.Brandt Clarke, Adrian Kempe and Joel Edmundson each dished out two assists, and Darcy Kuemper made 11 saves as the Kings improved to 11-0-3 in their last 14 at home.Elias Lindholm and Morgan Geekie scored goals while Jeremy Swayman allowed seven on 23 shots for Boston (30-33-9, 69 points), which is on a six-game winless streak (0-5-1).In the second period, Los Angeles took control for good as Doughty slid down to blast home the rebound of a Mikey Anderson shot that Swayman kicked back into the circle at 8:46.Kuzmenko's second Kings goal in as many games with 2:22 left doubled the hosts' lead. Kempe recovered a puck that was dumped from the other end, circled the net and fed a pass from behind the end line to Kuzmenko to slap past Swayman from a tight angle on the right side.The Kings' run continued in the third as Kevin Fiala corralled a puck at center and sent Byfield down the middle for a blocker-side wrister at 4:05 and Jeannot deflected a point shot at 9:20.

Andrei Kuzmenko, Anze Kopitar, Tanner Jeannot, Quinton Byfield and Kevin Fiala each had a goal and an assist to help the Los Angeles Kings snap the visiting Carolina Hurricanes' eight-game win streak in a 7-2 victory on Saturday afternoon.Adrian Kempe and Trevor Moore also scored, Drew Doughty had two assists and David Rittich made 34 saves for the Kings (38-21-9, 85 points), who have won seven of eight.For the second time in franchise history, all 12 forwards had at least one point for Los Angeles. It happened previously on April 6, 1974, against the Vancouver Canucks.Dmitry Orlov and Mark Jankowski scored, and Pyotr Kochetkov stopped just five of the first 11 shots before finishing with 18 saves for the Hurricanes (42-23-4, 86 points), who surrendered three goals in each of the first two periods.Kempe sent a wrist shot over Kochetkov's blocker from the top of the right circle for a 1-0 lead at 3:03.Los Angeles scored eight seconds into its first power play when Kopitar's centering pass went off the skate of Hurricanes forward Jordan Martinook and into his own net, stretching the lead to 2-0 at 14:39.Kuzmenko tallied with a wrist shot from the right circle with five seconds left in the opening period to make it 3-0. It was Kuzmenko's first point in eight games since being acquired by the Kings from the Philadelphia Flyers on March 7.Moore scored with a wrist shot from the high slot to extend the lead to 4-0 at 5:58 of the second.

The Los Angeles Kings look to continue their recent hot streaks and search for a back-to-back sweep when they host the Boston Bruins on Sunday night.The Kings (38-21-9, 85 points) are coming off a seven-goal showing on Saturday in a win over the Carolina Hurricanes, who had won their previous eight games.Los Angeles is 7-1-1 over a recent nine-game span and extended its home points streak to 13 games (10-0-3)."We seem to rise to that level when we're pressed to do it, and that's when we're at our best," Kings coach Jim Hiller said.Trade deadline acquisition Andrei Kuzmenko recorded his first two points (one goal, one assist) as a King while playing on a line with captain Anze Kopitar and Adrian Kempe.Kuzmenko scored what proved to be the game-winning goal on a night that featured seven different goal scorers for Los Angeles. Also among them was Quinton Byfield, who has goals in seven of his last nine games."He's playing well, scoring goals, does everything on the ice, plays PK, plays well defensively, good in the corner. Very happy for him," Kings defenseman Drew Doughty said.It was the third time that Kings have scored seven goals this season."We've had nights where we just haven't scored much," Hiller said. "(Saturday) was one of those nights where it seemed like we got a little bit of that luck or a little bit of that randomness that we had been missing over the course of the season on our side, and you hope that it happens like that. We'll take a few more nights like that."The Bruins (30-32-9, 69 points) welcomed 2021 first-round draft pick Fabian Lysell back to the NHL lineup for the second time in his career in a 3-1 Saturday loss at the NHL-worst San Jose Sharks. On Saturday, he moved up the lineup to play with Marat Khusnutdinov and Elias Lindholm.

The hottest team in the NHL will try to cool off another team that's beginning to boil when the Carolina Hurricanes visit the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday afternoon.The Hurricanes (42-22-4, 88 points) have won eight in a row for the second time this season and surrendered two goals or fewer in every game of their latest winning streak.Carolina most recently opened its three-game California swing with a 3-1 win against the San Jose Sharks on Thursday."We've been doing a solid job every game, starting on time," Hurricanes forward Sebastian Aho said. "They're different kinds of wins too. (Against the Sharks), we came back from being down after the first, and some of the other games were almost over after the first because we had been up a few goals. Really, it's the two points that matter. We're just trying to stack them up right now to make our way toward the playoffs."Carolina is comfortably locked into second place in the Metropolitan Division, 12 points behind the Washington Capitals and eight ahead of the New Jersey Devils with 14 games remaining."We just come in every day and try to get better," Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "Whether we've won eight in a row or not, it's irrelevant. It's 0-0 when we start the game. We try and win that game, that day, and that's how we've approached it, always. That's how we're going to do it next game."Seth Jarvis comes in riding a six-game point streak (four goals, two assists) and fellow Carolina forward Taylor Hall has a four-game point streak (two goals, three assists).Los Angeles enters the weekend two points behind the Edmonton Oilers for second place in the Pacific Division. The Oilers have owned home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs against Los Angeles the past three seasons and eliminated the Kings each time.The Kings have 15 games remaining and the Oilers have 13, including two more regular-season matchups against Los Angeles.

Darcy Kuemper made 17 saves for the visiting Los Angeles Kings in a 3-1 win against the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday night.Kuemper has surrendered just five goals in his past six games, after a 10-game run in which he had given up 31.Trevor Moore, Alex Turcotte and Joel Edmundson scored for the Kings (37-21-9, 83 points), who have won six of seven.Connor Bedard scored and Spencer Knight made 30 saves for the Blackhawks (20-40-9, 49 points), who have lost a season-high six in a row (0-5-1).Los Angeles took a 1-0 lead at 8:45 of the first period. Moore brought the puck into the Chicago zone before pulling up above the right circle. He skated into the high slot and banked his shot off the inside of the post for his 14th goal of the season.Los Angeles scored 59 seconds later, when Vladislav Gavrikov took a shot from above the left circle and along the wall and Turcotte tipped it into the net.

As the see-saw journey that is the Los Angeles Kings' stretch run continues, the good news is this: The Kings maintain a firm hold on a playoff spot.Entering Thursday's visit to the Chicago Blackhawks, the Kings (36-21-9, 81 points) have a six-point lead for the No. 3 slot in the Pacific Division and are three back of Edmonton for second place. All of that despite enduring consecutive losing and winning streaks of five games in the past three weeks.Los Angeles was unable to extend its surge to six games on Monday, losing 3-1 to the host Minnesota Wild.Adrian Kempe scored first, but the Kings couldn't extend their lead despite outshooting Minnesota 29-22. The Kings surrendered the winning goal with 4:38 to play and allowed an empty-netter in the closing minute."I think overall we played a pretty good game," Kempe said. "I think they did as well. I think it was pretty even throughout the game. Not a ton of chances going back and forth. Both teams played solid defensively. At the end of the day, penalties and (penalty killing) came up short today. It's been good all year. Tough when you lose in the last minute."The Kings will look to revive their defensive discipline against the Blackhawks. They allowed one goal in their previous three games before Monday.Quinton Byfield was held scoreless in Minnesota, ending a six-game goal streak. Byfield has earned points in eight of the past 12 games.Chicago (20-39-9, 49 points) can secure a three-game sweep of the season series against Los Angeles with a victory.To do so, the Blackhawks must improve their defensive intensity and execution. They've lost five straight games for the fourth time this season, a skid that includes allowing at least six goals in consecutive contests for the first time since March 2021.Goaltender Spencer Knight yielded six unanswered goals during Tuesday's 6-2 loss to the Seattle Kraken two nights after the Blackhawks fell at Vancouver by the same score. Arvid Soderblom was the goalie in that game.Chicago forward Jason Dickinson said the team "didn't protect the slot at all" against Seattle.

Mats Zuccarello's power-play goal with 4:38 left in the final period allowed the Minnesota Wild to snap the Los Angeles Kings' five-game winning streak in a 3-1 come-from-behind victory Monday at St. Paul, Minn.Ryan Hartman scored the other goal for the Wild, who had lost four of their last five, and assisted on Zuccarello's game-winner. Marcus Johansson added an empty-netter in the final minute, and Jared Spurgeon notched two assists in the win. Filip Gustavsson made 28 saves in the victory.Adrian Kempe scored for Los Angeles, with assists from Kevin Fiala and Drew Doughty. Darcy Kuemper made 19 saves as he saw his four-game winning streak end.Both teams relied on the power play to get on the board, and neither team needed much time with the man advantage.Zuccarello's 16th goal of the season came just 34 seconds after Trevor Moore was called for a tripping penalty. He scored from the left faceoff circle, beating Keumper on the shortside.Kempe put the Kings on top at 15:01 in the opening period, just 17 seconds after Marco Rossi went to the box for slashing Fiala. On the power play, Fiala found a seam through the Wild's penalty kill unit to feed an open Kempe for his team-best 28th goal of the season.

The Los Angeles Kings take their five-game winning streak to Saint Paul, Minn., on Monday when they face the Minnesota Wild.It's the third time this season Los Angeles has won at least five straight, and Quinton Byfield has been the offensive catalyst behind the recent streak. The Kings center has scored a goal in six consecutive games. His tally in Saturday's 1-0 victory over the Nashville Predators was his second overtime goal in this ongoing stretch and third this season.Getting opportunities in the extra session is something Byfield is beginning to relish."I used to be scared of that," he said after Saturday's victory. "Now, just going 3-on-3 with all that ice, it's so much fun out there. I just (need to) enjoy being out there. You get a lot of time and space, and you can just make plays and have fun."Byfield, who has 17 goals and 23 assists on the season, is just the fourth Kings player age 22 or younger to score in six or more straight games. Luc Robitaille was the last to accomplish the feat in 1987-88.The Kings are one of the NHL's top defensive teams, with their 2.55 goals allowed per game ranking second in the league entering play on Sunday. Goalie Darcy Kuemper has been between the pipes for four of the team's five consecutive wins and earned his 200th career win on Saturday. He's allowed a combined two goals in those contests and has not allowed a puck to get past him in more than 154 minutes.Kuemper, a sixth-round pick by the Wild in 2009, ranks second in the NHL with both a 2.16 goals-against average and a .918 save percentage. He also has four shutouts, tied for third among all netminders this season.The Wild are struggling offensively. Entering Sunday, they were tied with the Chicago Blackhawks for the sixth-worst production, averaging just 2.7 goals per game.With 79 points, Minnesota is in firm control of the top wild-card spot in the Western Conference, six points ahead of the Vancouver Canucks in the standings. However, coach John Hynes' squad has just three points in its last five games (1-3-1).