LOS ANGELES — As the Kings seek to shake old habits, they travel to face the NHL’s two newest franchises, the Utah Mammoth on Monday and the Seattle Kraken on Wednesday.
They certainly hope to build on a 6-0 beatdown of the Chicago Blackhawks in which they dominated play for 40 minutes, accumulated a season-high in goals and brought their goal differential into positive territory for the first time in 2025-26 (+1).
There was a power-play goal, a rarity for the past month and a half, and it came from Andrei Kuzmenko, who hadn’t scored since kids were still hopped up on Halloween candy. The defense scored multiple goals for the second time this season and three goals for the first time all year. Alex Turcotte scored his first goal at home, ever. In all, 12 different Kings made their way onto the score sheet, and, oh, Darcy Kuemper blanked the Blackhawks.
“Even the guys that didn’t score, we all took a step tonight. We were all happy for each other on the bench, we all wanted to see each other do well and it was a full 20-man effort,” Brandt Clarke said. “Shout-out to Darcy, too, that’s the most undercover effective shutout you’ll ever see.”
Clarke had two goals in the game, and he was one of the scorers in the clash in San Jose in which the Kings got two goals from the blue line. That night, Drew Doughty, who had two assists on Saturday, also tallied, and on Saturday, it was Mikey Anderson who, like Clarke on his second goal, filled a lane before he found the net.
“We’re encouraged to, when the time is right, like it was in those two instances, to take (the opportunity to join the rush),” Clarke said.
Coach Jim Hiller was pleased with his team’s ability to better navigate the neutral zone on a night where they also displayed a more vigorous forecheck. Both developments factored into an effort in which a team that had scored 16 goals in its previous nine games burst forth with six in 27:39 of game action.
“When you’re not scoring a lot, it’s great to score like this, but it’s also great to have it spread out,” Hiller said.
Even the desperately dry Phillip Danault wet his feet with his fifth assist of the year. His running mate, Trevor Moore, is heating up with seven points in his past eight outings. On the flipside, Quinton Byfield is ice cold, with no goals, two assists and a -4 rating in his last nine appearances.
Since an abysmal stretch during which they won just three of 14 games, the Mammoth have taken two of their last three. Even within that stint, there have been inconsistencies. They blew out the Pacific Division-leading Ducks 7-0 and followed it up with a convincing victory in Vancouver, only to be bageled by the lowly Flames in Calgary the following night.
Former Kings defenseman Sean Durzi missed a month and a half of the campaign and has just one point in seven games with a -6 rating since making his return.
The Kraken cobbled together a pair of five-game point streaks earlier in the season, but they are presently mired in a five-game funk in which they’ve gone winless. Among those five results were two shutouts by their opponents and a nine-goal bonanza by the Edmonton Oilers.