LOS ANGELES — It was a battle of criss-crossing goaltenders and adjacent draft picks on Thursday night at Crypto.com Arena, where a seesaw affair between the Kings and Ottawa Senators culminated in a 4-3 overtime victory for the hosts.
Kings starter Cam Talbot plied his trade for Ottawa last year, when the Senators’ Joonas Korpisalo was between the pipes for the Kings from March onward. The Kings’ Quinton Byfield was the No. 2 overall pick in 2020, one slot ahead of Ottawa’s Tim Stützle.
Kevin Fiala scored on a spinning backhand two minutes into the extra session to give the Kings their third win in four games. They surmounted deficits of 1-0 and 2-1 as well as a deflating late Ottawa equalizer off a turnover to capture two huge points on a night when the team ahead of them, Edmonton, and the one behind them, Vegas, both lost.
“I feel like our group now, versus when we were in the middle of a slide there, when we get scored on, it’s ‘hey, let’s get going, we’re right back in this thing,’” Blake Lizotte said. “I think the attitude has changed quite a bit in our room. It shows, and tonight it was evident that it’s in this room.”
Byfield, Pierre-Luc Dubois and Jacob Moverare also scored goals for the hosts, while Anze Kopitar and Matt Roy dished out two assists apiece. Talbot stopped 28 shots.
Dominik Kubalik, Brady Tkachuk and Drake Batherson tallied for Ottawa, with Batherson adding an assist and Shane Pinto contributing two. Korpisalo made 31 saves.
The Kings wasted little time in securing their second point in overtime, where Fiala fended off Stützle and Artem Zub as he battled in tight quarters, spun and ultimately lifted the puck off his backhand past Korpisalo for the game-winner.
“That’s a really hard goal to score, and he was at the end of the shift already. It just goes to show you how strong he is in puck battles,” Kings interim coach Jim Hiller said. “Give Kevin credit, he got around the net, he out-battled two…
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