The LA Kings moved to within one victory of securing home-ice advantage in the first round of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs, as they skated to a 5-4 victory over Colorado on Saturday afternoon at Crypto.com Arena.
For the third straight game, forward Quinton Byfield opened the scoring, as he buried his 22nd goal of the season. Skating off the rush, Byfield took a drop pass in the slot from forward Andrei Kuzmenko on his forehand and fired clean past Colorado goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood for the early 1-0 advantage.
Midway through the opening period, the Kings doubled their advantage as they scored on the power play, their fourth goal in the last four periods. Attacking again off the rush, this time it was forward Kevin Fiala who capitalized on a Grade-A scoring chance, as he dragged the puck onto his forehand in the slot, picked his spot and beat Blackwood from a dangerous area. Fiala’s goal was his 33rd of the season, tying his career high from 2021-22.
Colorado pushed back with a power-play goal of its own just over three minutes after Fiala’s goal, making it 2-1. Skating 5-on-3, after a pair of Kings minor penalties just 22 seconds apart, the Avalanche worked the puck around the offensive zone, before forward Charlie Coyle fed fellow trade-deadline acquisition Brock Nelson at the back post, where he buried his 25th goal of the season, bringing the game 2-1 into the first intermission.
The Avalanche tied the game early in the second period, off a good cycle in the offensive zone. After Colorado held the puck in at the blue line, forward Artturi Lehkonen went in on the forecheck and retained possession below the goal line. The Finnish winger rounded the net, brought the puck around the cage and fed forward Valeri Nichushkin at the back post, where he scored his 21st goal of the season to equalize for the visitors.
Los Angeles pushed back, however, to pull back ahead just shy of 11 minutes into the middle stanza. Defenseman Brandt Clarke was the facilitator, working his way up the wall in a tight space before he fed forward Alex Laferriere in the high slot, where the Harvard product fired a one-timer through traffic, past Blackwood and in for his 18th goal of the season, his second straight game with a goal, making it 3-2.
The Kings added an insurance goal with less than four minutes remaining in the second period, as forward Anze Kopitar got on the board. A nice sequence in the offensive zone led to a one-timer for forward Adrian Kempe, who shot off the far right pad of Blackwood, with Kopitar driving the net for the rebound, putting it into the back of the net for a 4-2 lead after 40 minutes of play.
The visitors pulled back to within a goal early in the third period as defenseman Sam Malinski snapped home his fifth goal of the season to bring to score to 4-3. Nichushkin made a really nice pass in transition to create a lot of space for Malinski down the right wing, entering the offensive zone. Malinski worked his way into the right-hand circle and went high glove, past Kings goaltender Darcy Kuemper and in for the goal.
Fiala then made it a single-season career high with his second goal of the afternoon, adding an insurance tally to pull the Kings back ahead by a pair. The forechecking efforts of Laferriere were on full display as he won a battle in the corner off a dump in from Byfield to gain possession back deep in the offensive zone. Laferriere then rounded the net and found Fiala in front for the goal, his second of the game and 34th of the season.
With the goaltender pulled for a 6-on-4 scenario, Nelson scored his second goal of the game to bring Colorado back to within a goal. Off a scramble in front, the Avalanche used the extra skater to their advantage, winning the puck back, before Nelson slotted home from in between the circles, bringing the game to the ultimate final score of 5-4 Kings.
Hear from Laferriere, Clarke and Head Coach Jim Hiller following today’s victory.
