The LA Kings (18-15-10) fell behind early Friday night and weren’t able to get back in the game, dropping a 5-1 contest to the Winnipeg Jets (16-22-5) at Canada Life Centre in the final matchup between the teams this season.

Quinton Byfield scored for the Kings in a losing effort, netting his seventh goal of the season from the front of Winnipeg’s net midway through the game on a play that had assists from Taylor Ward and Warren Foegele.

Ward’s assist was the first of his NHL career, while Foegele’s helper was the second of his 2025-26 campaign.

The Jets got the scoring started early in the first, taking the lead at 1:31 of the opening frame on a deflection by Vladislav Namestnikov.

LA had their best chance of the first during a power play opportunity, which saw Drew Doughty hit the post with a shot that he let go from the point through traffic in the Winnipeg zone.

But the home team added on before the end of the period, making it 2-0 on a goal by Cole Koepke at 18:05.

Winnipeg added on just 2:07 into the second period when Jonathan Toews had a shot go off his skate, then off the post, before he was able to knock it past the goal line and make it a 3-0 game.

The Kings found some life at 9:32 of the middle frame when Foegele’s shot from inside the blue line deflected off Ward’s stick and then Byfield’s skate before going into the net. After LA had cut the lead to 3-1, the Jets challenged the call on the ice for goaltender interference.

The result of the review was upheld which gave the Kings a power play, but they were unable to convert on the opportunity, which came to an end when Adrian Kempe was called for high sticking at 11:04. On the ensuing Winnipeg man-advantage, Mark Scheifele banked the puck from behind the net off of Byfield’s skate and behind goaltender Darcy Kuemper to put the Jets ahead by a 4-1 margin.

Scheifele wasn’t done in the second, scoring once again to make it 5-1 in the final minute of the frame on an odd-man rush into the Kings end.

The Kings made a change in net for the third period, bringing on Anton Forsberg in relief for the final 20 minutes. Forsberg stopped all three shots that were directed his way, while Kuemper finished with 11 stops in a losing effort.

Eric Comrie earned the win in goal for Winnipeg, turning out 23 of the 24 shots the Kings put on goal. Overall, LA had a 24-19 edge in the shot department but came up empty on special teams, going 0-for-3 while surrendering a power play goal to the Jets who finished 1-for-2.

Postgame thoughts from Byfield, Adrian Kempe and head coach Jim Hiller are below.

Quinton Byfield

Adrian Kempe
On the way the team played early on in the game
I just thought we had a pretty decent first period. Obviously down 2-0, so we’re not happy going into the locker room, but I think the start was good. I think we forechecked, had some turnovers, created some chances. It went the other way, obviously, down 2-0 after first, obviously, we did something wrong there. Overall, I think good effort but the play wasn’t there.

On what went wrong tonight as opposed to other games where they’ve had more success
I think we had a couple unfortunate bounces against us, but other than that, I think, you’re down a couple of goals, it’s tough to start climbing back. Tried to look for one or a couple, but I think we had our chances. Been kind of the same issue as it’s been all year, and that’s, putting more than one or two on the board and it continued tonight.

On the third period, generating more chances
Goalie played great for them. I think when you go into the third period like that, as the leading team, you don’t want to give up stuff. You don’t want to give up easy stuff. So, they’re automatically going to sit back a little bit more. Maybe that’s why we had the puck more. But I think, again, we had a good effort in the third, we’re trying to force the puck to the net, get chances. I think we had some good looks, power play I think we had some good looks, It’s unfortunate. The puck doesn’t go in.

On if he felt Winnipeg was a desperate team coming in on a losing streak
They’re always a hard team to play against. Obviously, I haven’t watched them over the last 11, so I don’t know what has gone wrong for them, but tonight was no different than the last time we played them here. They check, keep it simple, they play hard, and usually ends up being tight games against them. Obviously, a couple bounces could have went our way tonight, but, they played a good, solid game.

On the adjustment he has to make when Anze Kopitar is out of the lineup
Yeah, we had him out a couple of games earlier in the season, not a crazy change. Obviously, I played with him for a long time. Having [Laferriere] in the middle that’s usually not a centerman, some things change, but I think we were moving well tonight. I think Laf has been doing a really good job. Obviously, he’s not a natural center, so it’s big shoes to fill, but I think he’s been doing a really good job on faceoffs, down low and all that kind of stuff. So just still trying to keep my game going, and take charge out there as much as I can.

Jim Hiller
On if he felt his team ran into a desperate hockey team in Winnipeg
I mean, they always play pretty well. It’s hard to feel like there’s a desperate team in the league right now, every single team feels like that every night. It’s well documented how close the league is. There’s no easy games. But that was what I expected from them.

On the areas he felt that the team came up short
Well, it’s hard, you have to go back through and look at it again, but we started fine. Really, it was probably their power play, I think, got some momentum with five minutes left in the first period. I didn’t think they had much prior to that, besides the goal. So that set us back just a little bit. And then, we have a chance to bury one. We didn’t get it. I would say they had some timely goals. They certainly didn’t spend a lot of time in our zone, but they had some good rush attack, they’ve got some guys that can finish. So that was probably the difference.

On why he made the goaltending switch to Forsberg in the third
Yeah, I mean, he’s played a lot. He gets a couple tough ones, funny bounces, not on him at all. so, just felt like at that time, let’s get him out of there and get him some rest, if nothing else. He’s had a really good run since coming back, so not evaluating on how he played.

On the bounces that didn’t go his team’s way
That’s hockey, right. But we didn’t get too many bounces our way, that’s what I would say. We had another night of 80 shot attempts and around the net. When you end up with one goal on 80 shot attempts, you didn’t get a lot of puck luck, I would say. But I mean that is the game, and too often we’ve had that type of story this year where we’ve had a lot of pucks, a lot of traffic, and just haven’t found a way. So, it’ll change. They tell us it all balances out in the end. So we’re looking forward to that happening soon.

On Byfield and his struggles to have a shoot-first mentality
Yeah, well, we had a handful of those. That one is probably the most obvious example. They scored a couple from, you know, one from behind the net, the other one just throwing it at the net, a nice tip. You have to shoot the puck. You’re a team that’s not scoring a lot of goals, you’ve got it direct everything and you get anything inside that slot area, I don’t think we have to overthink it. Power play we did it a couple times too. I mean, we could have shot when we looked for one more pass. It’s kind of an old story for us this year. There’s not a real good answer for that. You have to take your shot.

On how some of the new forwards have showed themselves entering the lineup
It’s a funny game. They’re up 5-1, so at that point, they don’t have to do much, just protect the fort, so we understand how that goes. But, tough the first game, I thought this game, we saw more from Lee, more from Ward, coming back up. I thought this game they certainly left a much better impression than the last one. So that was good for both of them.

Notes –
-Center Quinton Byfield (1-0=1) scored his seventh goal of the season tonight, his fourth point in his last four games (2-2=4), dating back to Jan. 3 against Minnesota. The tally also marks Byfield’s second consecutive game with a point against the Winnipeg Jets, following his 100th career assist in the Kings’ 3-0 victory on Nov. 4, 2025.
-Forward Taylor Ward (0-1=1) recorded his first career NHL assist tonight in his third game in the League, the first of which to be played on the road. Last season saw Ward score in his NHL debut on April 17, 2025, versus Calgary.
-Forward Warren Foegele (0-1=1) picked up his second assist of the season with his secondary helper on Byfield’s goal. This marks Foegele’s second point in his last three games against the Jets, joining an assist in the Kings’ 4-1 win on April 1, 2025.

The Kings continue their weekend road trip on Saturday in Edmonton when they take on the Oilers for the first time this season at 7 p.m. inside Rogers Place.