The LA Kings fell to 0-2 in the 2026 preseason as they dropped a 6-3 decision against the Utah Mammoth on Tuesday evening at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.

Utah opened the scoring midway through the first period with a power-play goal, coming on its second man-up opportunity of the game. Mammoth defenseman Mackenzie Weegar created some space at the center point and got a shot through the traffic in front, with Utah forward Daniil But getting a tip on the way through as he was uncovered in the slot to open the scoring.

The Mammoth doubled their advantage late in the opening frame, capitalizing on a Kings turnover to take a 2-0 lead into the first intermission. Kings forwards Koehn Ziemmer and Samuel Helenius weren’t able to get the puck out up the left wall, which allowed Utah to reload. Mammoth forward Clayton Keller worked himself into the slot and beat Kings netminder Darcy Kuemper from between the circles for the goal.

Early in the second period, the Kings got on the board with a power-play goal. The top unit established possession in the offensive zone and cashed in on their second chance of the game. Defenseman Brandt Clarke rotated down low in the offensive zone, while forward Adrian Kempe worked his way up top. Clarke got a deflection in tight on Kempe’s shot, past Utah goaltender Karol Vejmelka and in, bringing the hosts within 2-1.

The visitors opened up their largest lead of the game with a pair of second-period goals, taking a 4-1 advantage.

First, working deep in the offensive zone with pressure and possession, defenseman Mikhail Sergachev slid the puck down to forward Nick Schmaltz in the left-hand circle, where he beat Kuemper to the near post for a 3-1 lead. Then, the Mammoth capitalized off the rush, as Anders Lee found himself uncovered in the slot and buried off a feed from But to make it 4-1.

The Kings pulled a goal back through forward Martin Chromiak to bring the game into the second intermission with a 4-2 Utah advantage. Clarke chipped the puck out of his own zone, off the glass and out, as he sprung Chromiak in behind the Utah defense. Chromiak took the puck to his backhand and used a nice move

Early in the third period, forwards Kenny Connors and Taylor Ward connected off the rush to pull the hosts within a single goal. Connors showed excellent composure and strength to shake his defender, before he worked the puck to Ward for a one-timer finish from the left-hand circle. Connors now has assists in back-to-back exhibition games, three straight if you include the Rookie Faceoff.

Utah restored its two-goal advantage shortly thereafter, as forward Liam O’Brian put home a rebound in front of Kuemper to make it 5-3. After Kuemper made a pad save, O’Brien was not tied up just outside of the crease and buried his first of the night to put the visitors back on top by a pair.

The Mammoth added an empty-net goal to bring us to the final score of 6-3.

Hear from Clarke, forward Liam Lefebvre and Head Coach Peter Laviolette after tonight’s game.

Brandt Clarke

Liam Lefebvre
On playing in his first NHL preseason game
Yeah, it was a great honor. Obviously, whenever you put an NHL jersey on, it’s a big moment. I’m just proud to get out there. I thought it was good to kind of get the beat a little bit and play with those guys, play a rink like this, Good experience.

On the step up in competition from the Rookie Faceoff to NHL Preseason
Obviously a big step. You look at their lineup, a lot of NHL regular guys on there. So, for me, it was kind of adjusting to that pace. I thought the first period was kind of an adjustment period and then after that, I was able to find the legs a little bit. I thought as a group as well, we got better a little bit in the second and third.

On his line tonight and getting better as the game went on
Yeah, I think it was just the pace. We were trying to push the play up ice, create some some chances in the offensive zone and I thought we did a little bit of a better job at that in the third than the previous periods, so it was definitely good to build on that.

On a hectic six months, ending with his first NHL training camp
I think it’s just going with the the day-to-day stuff. Whether that’s coming to the rink, going to the gym, just kind of staying level-headed with that, not getting too high or too low. I feel like that’s allowed me to kind of just keep my composure. As it’s been pretty busy and eventful, just keep working and doing the things that got me there. That’s what we’re calling.

Peter Laviolette
On the first power-play unit tonight
I thought once we got it in zone, we had some looks. I think we hit a post, the goal on the redirect, good play by Kempe to find Clarkie down the slot there. So, there was a few good things. I thought where we struggled with it was just on the breakouts, coming through the neutral zone. It didn’t seem clean and I think that’s a timing thing that you get to the more you do it. We’re trying to work it in and incorporate it in practice as much as we can. I thought that could have been cleaner. Those clean entries are important because you get in there fresh. You’re earlier in the shift, you try and move and generate for each other and if you’re not getting in, you’re going back and then back and it just takes the steam out of it a little bit. So, we’ll continue to work on that, but it was good movement on [the power play].

On his impressions of the start tonight
You know, if I’m being honest, I thought that we were slow out of the gate with the game. A lot of the younger guys that are in here trying to make an impression or guys that maybe weren’t here last year and I think that the game goes quick. We just tried to address that after the first period. I thought it got a little bit better and then in the third, there were moments where you noticed the young players, Lefebvre, you notice Chromiak and he got going on a couple shifts and Kenny Connors had a nice play. So, you started to notice some guys a little bit more, but you can’t wait in training camp. In the NHL, in a regular season game, when the puck drops at minute number one, you’ve got to be ready. I thought that we just watched a little bit too much in the first period.

On seeing Quinton Byfield step in for Adrian Kempe and fight
I thought that we needed to be a little bit more physical and Quinton stepping in there like that I thought was real big. It was kind of a hit that was maybe the puck had already passed by or gone through and Quinton stepped in there. I thought it was good to stick up for your teammate in a situation like that and props to him for doing that.

On the Anderson/Clarke pairing
I thought as the game grew, there were moments that were better. Clarkie had some nice plays offensively. He moved the puck and did some things and generated some offense for us. He sprung some pucks up the ice. I still think we have to move the puck quicker, more effectively. Whether it’s power play or 5-on-5, the teams that are on point are the ones that are doing things just a little bit quicker. So, getting the puck up, getting it into the neutral zone, getting it through quick first outlet pass, all of that for me can be a little bit better. But, there were some good things that they did. We’re still working on it.

On the performance of the top forward line tonight
I thought that they were good. They competed hard and they generated offense. They played the game with purpose. So, for me, that was a positive watching them and the chemistry inside of that.

The Kings are back in action tomorrow evening at Honda Center to take on the Ducks. Would expect a different looking lineup, minus a handful of forwards who will likely play back-to-back, looking mainly at bubble players.