LOS ANGELES — The Kings were in the mood to buck trends on Saturday night at Crypto.com Arena, where they thumped the Chicago Blackhawks, 6-0.
They prevailed at home, where they’d won only three of a dozen previous games this season. They scored six goals for just the second time in 2025-26, during their most convincing victory of the campaign. They tallied on the power play for the first time in five games and the sixth time in their past 65 attempts, thanks to Andrei Kuzmenko’s first goal and first point since Nov. 1. They won decisively, after their prior 10 games had all been decided by a goal and all but two of their dozen wins before Saturday came by one goal or a goal plus an empty-netter.
Brandt Clarke scored two goals and was joined in the multipoint club by Mikey Anderson (goal, assist), Drew Doughty (two assists) and Alex Turcotte (goal, assist). Warren Foegele and Andrei Kuzmenko also lit the lamp. Darcy Kuemper earned his second shutout of the year, stopping 23 shots.
Chicago’s Spencer Knight endured the evening in net, making 26 saves.
Having just played these same Blackhawks on Thursday, the Kings flipped the script, dominating the second period and scoring multiple goals, much as the Blackhawks did in a 2-1 victory two nights earlier.
In the first period, the Kings were outshot 11-7, with Kuemper holding them in the contest early. He made multiple difficult stops, including on Ryan Donato during a two-on-one rush.
In the second period, the Kings played 20 of their most imposing minutes in recent memory, blowing the game open with three goals while allowing none despite having to kill consecutive penalties. They scored at the 1:55, 16:38 and 19:06 marks.
Early in the stanza, a clumsy exchange along the boards between Tyler Bertuzzi and Oliver Moore left the puck loose in the Chicago zone, where Trevor Moore pounced. He zipped a pass across to Foegele for a one-timer from just inside the right circle, his fifth goal of the season. Moore would nearly make it 2-0 on the same shift, but his shot met with the cold iron of the post.
Foegele had a close call of his own. Following an opportunity for Connor Bedard and a Chicago turnover, the Kings went the other way on a shorthanded 3-on-0 break. Quinton Byfield set up Foegele for another one-timer from the right side, but Knight ensnared the puck with his glove.
Another chance for Foegele preceded the Kings’ second power play, where they scored for the first time since their win over Ottawa on Nov. 24. It was vintage Kuzmenko, as after a faceoff win in the offensive zone, he drove directly to the net, received the puck and whirled around for a shot that he put up, over, off and ultimately behind Knight for his fourth goal of 2025-26.
Clarke would add an insurance marker on each side of the second intermission, with his second-period tally requiring some persistence. After his initial attempt from the blue line was blocked, he recovered the puck and glided between the circles. He whipped in a wrister despite nagging back pressure from Bedard.
On the other side of the break, Clarke secured possession in the neutral zone, then passed the puck and joined the attack. He drifted toward the left faceoff dot for a shot that rapidly entered and exited the net to give him his fifth goal at 4:46.
Just 92 seconds later, the Kings got yet another goal from their defense corps. Anderson trailed the play and took advantage of lackadaisical defense by Andre Burakovsky, skating into open space and sending a shot far side for Goal No. 2 on the season.
Turcotte also scored his second of the campaign, with 10:26 to play. He crashed the net to score his first ever home goal, having deposited all his 11 previous career tallies on the road on a night where seemingly every pattern zigged where it once zagged for the Kings.