KINGS NOTES:
– The Kings at present sit third within the Pacific Division with 75 factors. They path the Edmonton Oilers (78 factors) for second, however have two video games in hand. LA leads Calgary (70 factors) by 5 factors and likewise maintain a recreation in hand on the Flames. The Kings and Oilers have met within the First Spherical of the playoffs in three straight seasons and seem probably headed for a fourth straight assembly.
– The Kings common the fifth-fewest objectives towards per recreation within the NHL at 2.66.
– Anze Kopitar has 5 factors (3G, 2A) in his final 5 video games, together with objectives in consecutive video games and three of his final 4 contests. The Kings’ captain is as much as 51 factors this season, marking the 18th time in his profession he’s recorded 50-or-more factors. (The one season Kopitar didn’t rating 50 factors was the shortened 48-game 12 months in 2013, the place he nonetheless recorded 42 factors.) At 37, Kopitar leads the Kings in assists and is second on the workforce in factors trailing solely Adrian Kempe’s 53.
– Adrian Kempe leads the Kings with 27 objectives and 53 factors. Kempe has scored not less than 27 objectives in every of the previous 4 seasons, together with a 41-goal season in 2022-23. Kempe’s 131 objectives for the reason that begin of the 2021-22 season are tied for 21st within the NHL over that span.
– The Kings acquired ahead Andrei Kuzmenko from the Philadelphia Flyers at Friday’s commerce deadline, choosing up the Russian ahead in alternate for a 2027 third-round choose. The Kings additionally chipped in a seventh-round choose on this 12 months’s draft, whereas the Flyers retained half of Kuzmenko’s wage.
– Quinton Byfield is using a three-game purpose streak. The 22-year-old has 37 factors (14G, 23A) in 62 video games this season.
– The Kings are 20-3-4 at Crypto.com Area and their three regulation losses are the fewest within the NHL.
