The LA Kings were able to turn a good performance into two points as they skated to a 5-4 shootout victory over the Minnesota Wild on Saturday evening at Crypto.com Arena.

The Kings opened the scoring just over six minutes into the game through forward Adrian Kempe. The Kings top line put together a strong shift below the goal line, with forwards Alex Laferriere and Anze Kopitar winning the puck back deep in the offensive zone. Kopitar passed the puck through the top of the crease to Kempe, who slammed in the goal with authority, his 14th of the season, the put the hosts ahead 1-0.

Minnesota tied the game just over two minutes later, however, as defenseman Jacob Middleton scored his first goal of the season. The Wild won the puck back in the corner and forward Mats Zuccarello fed the puck to Middleton in the left-hand circle, where he shot first time, past Kings goaltender Darcy Kuemper and in on the blocker side to equalize the game at a goal apiece.

Skating on their second power play of the evening, the Kings pulled back ahead with a goal on the man advantage. Defenseman Brandt Clarke set up forward Quinton Byfield in the right-hand circle with space. Byfield’s shot was headed past the far post but it deflected off the glove of forward Corey Perry and in, as the Kings extended their power-play goal streak to four games for the first time this season.

The Wild again answered back quickly, however, as they scored a power-play goal of their own less than two minutes after Perry’s goal, tying the game at two through 40 minutes. Attacking off the rush, forward Joel Eriksson Ek drove down the left wing, lowered his shoulder and finished with a top-shelf shot on the glove side to equalize the game at two goals apiece.

Early in the third period, the Kings pulled in front once again on a strange goal. Byfield’s shot off the rush was deflected wide, but the puck hit the endboards and kicked back into the crease, off of Minnesota goaltender Jesper Wallstedt and in for his sixth goal of the season and a 3-2 advantage. Defensemen Cody Ceci and Brian Dumoulin crashed the net, but it was ultimately ruled an own goal, with Byfield getting credit for his sixth of the season.

Minnesota once again came back to tie the game, as they capitalized with a tic-tac-toe passing play in transition to equalize at three goals apiece. Forward Danila Yurov made the first pass to his left, to forward Kirill Kaprizov, who went back door to defenseman Brock Faber for the goal, his ninth of the season.

With just inside eight minutes to play in regulation, the Kings took their fourth one-goal lead of the evening, coming from an unlikely source. At the end of a shift, forward Kevin Fiala was able to gain the offensive zone with possession and he delayed down the right wing to buy some time. Fiala then found forward Samuel Helenius trailing the play and the big centerman buried his shot through the five hole to put the Kings ahead 4-3.

Inside three minutes to play, forward Matt Boldy got to the net and tied the game at four goals apiece. Moving in from the left point, Faber got the puck towards the crease and although Boldy was tied up, he was able to fight through the battle and get the puck over the goal line and in. His goal was his team-leading 26th of the season, as Minnesota tied the game for the fourth time.

After neither team found the back of the net in overtime, the Kings earned the second point via the shootout. Forward Adrian Kempe scored on his attempt and defenseman Brandt Clarke scored the game-deciding goal, as Darcy Kuemper made three saves on four attempts to secure the victory.

Hear from Clarke, Byfield and Head Coach Jim Hiller after tonight’s game.

Brandt Clarke

Quinton Byfield
On how it felt to come out with a win in a close game
Yeah, I mean, those losses are so tough when you’re right there, kind of let them back in the game. Feels like you’re giving them the game. Those ones sting, so it feels good to kind of just close out the game somewhat and get it done in the shootout.

On if the result of the Tampa Bay game was on the team’s minds late
The past years, we’ve been able to close out games really well and I feel like this year it’s been a little bit tougher for us. We’re starting to let up a few 6-on-5 ones to tie the game or even Tampa they got two on us there. Those are tough, it’s something that we got clean up, and obviously we let one in today, but we still got the win so that’s a positive there.

On seeing a goal go in on the power play for his unit
[Perry] has been doing that for 20 years, so when he’s in front of the net, you kind of just want to get there as much as we can and he’s always making the right play down there and he’s got so much skill, you just want to get him to puck as much as we can. Clarkie’s playng great hockey, and then Kuzy’s also really good on the power play, so I feel like it’s a good unit and we’ve got to keep rolling here.

On if he knew the goal credited to him was his
I did not, no. I mean, it shouldn’t be. That was terrible. It’s good, I think there’s been two now that have been like that so, I’ll take them as they come.

On where his game is at right now
Honestly, you look at the stats, probably not where you want to be but for myself, feel like there’s still a lot of games left and I’m still giving the effort, just trying to check and win games. I’m starting to play against team’s top lines and I take a lot of responsibility in that, trying to shut them down, but also being productive offensively. I think there’s still a lot more to come.

Jim Hiller
On if it was a must-win for his team
I would call every single game a must win, 1 through 82, that’s what it feels like, not just this year, every year, so we feel like it’s always a must win. It’s just a mindset. If you say this one’s must win, but this one’s not quite……they’re all must wins. They’re all important in the end, they all add up to some number [of points].

On the play that led to Helenius’ third period goal
Kevin had a really good game tonight, I think just everywhere he was making a lot of plays. That one was really good and Sammy came off the bench, so he didn’t know, he just delayed, and Sammy came late. Sometimes that happens, good and bad, both ways, a guy comes off the bench and he comes kind of out of nowhere sometimes, and he’s hard to pick up for the defensive team. He made a really good play and a really good pass by Kevin to find him.

On using Brandt Clarke in the shootout
Yeah, well, probably should have used him ahead of Kopi and Kev, I guess. But no, Brandt’s ready for the moment. Really happy for him get the first one. I know the pressure doesn’t bother him whatsoever. So he’ll find his way in there again, probably in the top three.

On his team’s play in the second period after a good start in the first
I didn’t think the Tampa second was that poor, we just didn’t shoot the puck in the second period against Tampa. Tonight, we were able to shoot the puck and sustain some o-zone time. I thought what we did well, was play in the o-zone. We didn’t have the rush but we really worked the puck behind their goal line. They played yesterday, so we really wanted to try to make their defenseman work and I thought when we when we committed to that, we shot the puck, we put it in, we got down there, those were the strongest moments of the game for us.

On how his team handled the see-saw nature of the game
We’ve got some good experience with that this year, with all the close games we’ve had, but I would say this, that was as focused, as emotionally engaged, I think, as our team has been all year, this particular game. So despite even when the one went in to tie it, which obviously nobody liked, I thought we were calm and confident, as calm and confident as we’ve been all season. It was different for us tonight, which is a good sign.

On if tonight can be an emotional swing in the right direction
I hope it’s the spark we need. I really do. I believe it is, we’ll see in a couple days from now, but we needed a game where we beat one of the top teams in the league. At Colorado, it was close, Tampa, you’re right there. We needed to show that we could play and beat – because we showed we can play with the best teams – we needed to show we could beat them. I’m hoping that’s the spark we need here to get us going to the second half.

Notes –
– Forward Quinton Byfield (1-1=2) forged his second consecutive multi-point game against the Minnesota Wild (1-1=2 on Oct. 13, 2025) by scoring his sixth goal and 17th assist of the season. Byfield has now recorded six points (3-3=6) over his last five games against Minnesota, dating back to Nov. 5, 2024. Only Carolina Hurricanes forward Seth Jarvis (6 A) has recorded more assists against the Wild among skaters selected in the 2020 NHL Draft than Byfield’s five, while Byfield’s eight points (3-5=8) tie Tim Stützle (3-5=8), Jake Neighbours (6-2=8) and Lucas Raymond (6-2=8) for the most points among 2020 NHL Draft selections.
– Forward Adrian Kempe (1-0=1) scored his 14th goal of the season, tying Kevin Fiala for the most goals by a Kings skater this season. Kempe also extends his goal streak against the Wild to a fourth game, dating back to Dec. 7, 2024, joining Jeff Carter (4 G from March 30 – Oct. 3, 2013) as the only two Kings players to record a four-game goal streak against the Wild in team history.
– The goal is Kempe’s 10th goal and 22nd career point (10-12=22) through 30 career games played against the Minnesota Wild. The native of Kramfors, Sweden, now ranks 10th among Swedish-born players in career goals scored against the Wild, breaking a tie with both Erik Karlsson (9 G) and William Nylander (9 G).
– Forward Corey Perry (1-0=1) scored his ninth goal of the season tonight, his 25th career goal and 46th point (25-21=46) against the Minnesota Wild through 58 meetings with the Central Division club. In doing so, he ties Patrick Kane (25 G) for the fourth-most goals scored against the Wild in NHL history and breaks a tie with Gabriel Landeskog (21=24=45) for 13th most points against Minnesota all-time.
– Forward Samuel Helenius (1-0=1) found the scoresheet for the first time this season by scoring his fifth career goal to give the Kings a 4-3 lead in the final eight minutes of regulation.
– Captain Anze Kopitar (0-1=1) picked up his 15th assist of the campaign tonight. This marks his 44th career helper against the Minnesota Wild, tying Daniel Sedin (44 A) for the second most assists against the Wild in NHL history. Kopitar has now recorded 14 points (3-11=14) over his last 14 games against the Wild, dating back to Oct. 16, 2021.
– Tonight’s contest marked the captain’s 70th career game against Minnesota, becoming the sixth skater in League history to play as many against the franchise. He joins Paul Stastny (73 GP), Patrick Marleau (73 GP), Daniel Sedin (82 GP), Jarome Iginla (84 GP) and Henrik Sedin (86 GP).
– With his 853rd career assist, Kopitar also passes Bobby Clarke (852 A) and ties Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin (853 A) for the 27th most assists in NHL history. The 38-year-old center also becomes the 20th different skater in NHL history to record 20 or more 15-assist campaigns. Kopitar now has 1,299 career points (446-853=1,299) and sits one point shy of becoming the 39th skater in NHL history to record 1,300 career points. Per NHL PR, the native of Jesenice, Slovenia, would become the eighth player born outside of North America with 1,300 career points, joining Jaromir Jagr (1,921), Alex Ovechkin (1,657), Stan Mikita (1,467), Teemu Selanne (1,457), Jari Kurri (1,398), Evgeni Malkin (1,375) and Mats Sundin (1,349).
– Forward Alex Laferriere (0-1=1) collected his ninth assist of the season on Kempe’s game-opening goal. The 24-year- old forward has 19 points (10-9=19) on the season and now has points (1-1=2) across each of his last pair of home games against the Wild, dating back to Dec. 7, 2024.
– Defenseman Brandt Clarke (0-1=1) picked up his 14th assist of the campaign on Perry’s power play goal, boosting his team-leading totals in both assists and points (5-14=19) by a Kings defenseman this season. The assist marks Clarke’s fourth point (0-4=4) over his last four home games, dating back to Dec. 23, 2025, versus Seattle, and also stands as his first career home point against Minnesota through two games played at Crypto.com Arena. Clarke also scored the deciding goal in his first career shootout attempt.
– Forward Kevin Fiala (0-1=1) forged his 14th assist and 28th point of the season. With the helper, Fiala extended his point streak against his former team to an eighth game, (3-7=10), dating back to Oct. 19, 2023, breaking a three-way tie with teammate Anze Kopitar (2-9=11 in 7 GP from Feb. 24, 2011 – April 4, 2013) and Jack Johnson (2-6=8 in 7 GP from Feb. 24, 2009 – Oct. 25, 2010) for the longest point streak against the Wild in Kings history.
– Forward Alex Turcotte (0-1=1) collected his fifth assist of the season on Helenius’ tally, the 24-year-old’s first career point against the Minnesota Wild.
– Goaltender Darcy Kuemper made 24 saves in regulation and overtime and turned aside two of three shootout attempts to earn his 11th win of the campaign, his sixth career victory against the club that selected him in the sixth round (161st overall) of the 2009 NHL Draft.
– Tonight’s contest was the Kings’ 15th contest of the season to require extra time, tied with the Vegas Golden Knights and tonight’s opponent, the Minnesota Wild, for the most among all NHL clubs so far this season.

The Kings have a scheduled team day off tomorrow and will return to the ice for morning skate on Monday, January 5, in advance of that evening’s rematch against Minnesota.