The LA Kings scored a late goal to force overtime but came up on the wrong side of the extra session once again in a 3-2 loss on Wednesday evening against the Vegas Golden Knights.

The first period came and went without a goal, despite a pretty controlled showing from the Kings. Los Angeles hit the post twice in the opening 20 minutes, including a really good look from forward Taylor Ward, but neither team was able to open the scoring.

Early in the second period, Vegas scored the game’s first goal top open the scoring just shy of 24 minutes into the game. A nice play by center Jack Eichel in the slot freed up forward Braeden Bowman into the right-hand circle, where he used a quick release to shoot past Kings goaltender Darcy Kuemper on the glove side for his sixth goal of the season and the 1-0 advantage.

It took until the midway mark of the third period but the Kings fought back to tie the game at one through forward Kevin Fiala. The play was started by forward Alex Turcotte, who used a nifty move to get the first shot attempt before he kept the play alive in front of the net. His deflected effort fell to Fiala, who buried from the left side for his team-leading 17th goal of the season, equalizing at a goal apiece.

Skating on the power play late in the game, Vegas took a 2-1 lead as forward Mitch Marner scored the go-ahead goal. Marner was afforded tons of time high in the offensive zone and he worked his way into the slot, stickhandling to his forehand to create space with the puck before he picked his spot on the blocker side to put the visitors ahead.

Inside the final 90 seconds of regulation, the Kings fought back to force overtime as defenseman Brandt Clarke equalized at two goals apiece. Skating 6-on-5, forward Adrian Kempe made a hard pass through the slot to Clarke, who drove the back post at the right time to collect and force the puck over the line, as the Kings found a way to send the game beyond the scheduled 60 minutes.

The Golden Knights won the game inside the first 30 seconds of overtime, however, as Vegas captain Mark Stone found the game-winning goal. Forward Kevin Fiala lost the puck at the offensive blueline and although he recovered with an aggressive backcheck, Vegas found the puck and Eichel fed Stone for the goal in front, giving the visitors a 3-2 victory.

Hear from Kempe, defenseman Mikey Anderson and Head Coach Jim Hiller after tonight’s game.

Adrian Kempe

Mikey Anderson
On the team’s recent run of wins and losses as of late
Frustrating. It’s the way it’s going. Sometimes it’s a [crap] bounce, finds a way, sometimes, we can find a way to kill a penalty, but again, we tie it at the end. We’ve just got to find a way to find a way to try and get the extra point. Right now, it’s not going our way.

On what he needs to do as a leader to keep the group moving forward
You’ve got to try and stay positive. Like you said, we’ve been playing pretty good hockey in some of these last couple games, we haven’t been giving up too much. Sometimes it’s a bad bounce, sometimes we can’t get a bounce but it’s trying to stick with it, keep everyone in a good mindset, keep doing it the right way. If you do it enough over time, I think it’s got to switch, so try and stick with it.

On his frustration tonight as a fairly even-keeled leader of the team
You look at where everyone is in the standings, it’s you win four games, or even two games, you can jump up four spots. You play a team in your division, feel like you play a pretty good game and the extra point can be a big difference right now. So, we’re happy to get the point, but yeah, I think everyone’s just a little frustrated. We’ve got to stay positive and keep doing it the right way, stick together and then we’ll get through it.

On how much of the frustrations stems from losing games in similar ways
If we look back at the Dallas game, it’s one bounce, hits my shinpad late in the game, goes in. It’s a bad bounce, but if I find a way to block it, make sure it doesn’t get to the net, who knows? We’ve got a good group in here, guys are tight, we want to keep doing it for each other. I think we’ve been playing good, it’s just we’ve got to find a way to get through and get two points instead of one or none.

Jim Hiller
On how difficult it is right now to keep the group together in a tough stretch
Right now, it’s not that difficult, because they know how hard they’re playing, they’re playing together, they’re playing nose to nose with the best teams in the NHL. I mean, you guys can see it, I’m not making [crap] up, they’re right there with them. So, as difficult as it is, as emotional as it is, they know they’re right there. So, it sucks. This is not an easy game. The emotions go up and down and you’ve got to earn it. Obviously we haven’t done enough to earn it. But they shouldn’t feel bad about themselves. They’re playing hard here.

On why the frustration in the room felt greater tonight than it has in past games
just think it’s the compilation of them to [the point in the first question]. It’s the piling up. Emotionally, it’s a difficult job to have. You have to be concentrated, you have to be willing to sacrifice your body at different times. So, to do that over and over and over again and not get the results we feel like we should get by doing it, you’re going to be emotional. You just are. That’s just the way it goes. So, I don’t begrudge them for being emotional, but we come back with the same effort. It’s all we can do. I’ve been saying it for a while, we’re going to get on a run. It’s just really hard to believe that we haven’t yet.

On his own emotions right now after a trying stretch for the team
I used the word, for me, was disappointed. Are [the players]? I mean, I can’t control that. You guys talk to them right after, it’s an emotional time, if they’re saying they’re frustrated, I understand that. My point was, I believe frustration is just a bit of a wasted emotion. For me, disappointed is a better approach to take, because you can get back over that quicker. I think frustration can build too much. Maybe it’s semantics, I don’t know, but that’s just how I think about it, but again, they have a right to feel the way they’re feeling, because the good things that happened for us last year, maybe we got on the right side of some of them and they’re just not happening for us thus far. We talked about it the other day, is the season slipping away, there’s how many games left? 46 [played] tonight. There’s a lot of hockey left. There’s no question we’re going to have to get on a roll to make some points up, but I’m really confident that we will, if we play like that.

On if the Kings need more offensively from their top guys, like Kempe’s play on Clarke’s goal
Yeah, I mean if you go up and down the scoring of all the teams, it’s usually top heavy. Salary cap and everything else, it’s top heavy. Eichel gets three assists tonight and you need your top guys to produce. They get paid the money and they’re the guys that generally get leaned upon, right, for good reasons, because they have a track record of doing it. So, our guys have been snakebit a little bit tonight. I thought Juice was as dangerous tonight as he’s been, he had three, that I remember, really good looks. That’s a positive and then a really nice pass to Clarkie sneaking down the backside.

Notes –
– Forward Kevin Fiala (1-1=2) scored his team-leading 17th goal of the season before picking up his 16th assist. The tally stands as the Swiss winger’s 12th against Vegas through 31 contests, tying Tyler Toffoli (12 G in 28 GP) and Kyler Connor (12 G in 21 GP) for fifth most against the Golden Knights in League history.
– Fiala now has 104 goals as a King, surpassing Justin Williams (103 G) and Glen Murray (103 G) for 28th most in franchise history. Additionally, Fiala tied Rob Blake (68 EVG) and Glen Murray (68 EVG) for 31st most even-strength goals as a member of the LA Kings.
– Defenseman Brandt Clarke (1-0=1) scored his sixth goal of the season to force overtime with fewer than 90 seconds remaining in regulation. The 22-year-old blueliner recorded the latest game-tying goal (58:33) by a Kings defenseman since Drew Doughty on Oct. 28, 2023 (58:57) – also against the Vegas Golden Knights, per NHL PR.
– Forward Alex Turcotte (0-1=1) picked up his eighth assist of the campaign on Fiala’s goal, his fifth point (1=4=5) in his last five home games, dating back to Jan. 3 against Minnesota. Turcotte has now recorded assists in back to back games against the Golden Knights (0-1=1; Oct. 8, 2025), becoming the fifth different skater in franchise history aged 24 ears of age or younger to record assists in two straight games against the Golden Knights, joining Adrian Kempe (2x), Matt Roy, Sean Durzi and Quinton Byfield.
– Forward Andrei Kuzmenko (0-1=1) notched his ninth helper of the year with a secondary assist on Fiala’s goal, which is also his ninth point (5-4=9) in nine career games played against the Golden Knights. Kuzmenko marked his 18th point of the campaign, setting a new single-season high for points as a member of the Kings, surpassing his 17 points (5- 12=17) registered during his 22 game stint in 2024-25 after being acquired at the trade deadline.
– Forward Adrian Kempe (0-1=1) notched his 21st assist of the season, extending his lead in the category among Kings skaters. The assist was the Kramfors, Sweden, native’s 30th career point (10-12=30) scored against the Golden Knights, becoming the fifth player in NHL history to score 30 points against Vegas, joining Anze Kopitar (16-26=42), Leon Draisaitl (13-20=33), Connor McDavid (11-21=32) and Nathan MacKinnon (8- 22=30).
– Kempe played his 38th career game against the Vegas Golden Knights tonight, breaking a tie with teammate Anze Kopitar (37 GP) for sole- possession of the most games played against the Nevada-base franchise in NHL history.
– Tonight also marked defenseman Drew Doughty’s 35th career game skated against Vegas, breaking a tie with Cam Fowler (34 GP) to retake the lead for the most games played against the Knights by a defenseman in League history.
– Forward Andre Lee registered six hits tonight, setting a new single-game career high, doubling his previous marker of three (9x; Last: Jan. 9 at WPG).
– Goaltender Darcy Kuemper started his 95th game as a member of the Kings tonight, breaking a tie with Cal Petersen for sole possession of the 12th-most starts in LA Kings franchise history.

The Kings have a scheduled team day off tomorrow and will return to the ice on Friday, January 16 for morning skate at Toyota Sports Performance Center, in advance of that evening’s game versus Anaheim.