A third period rally came up short for the LA Kings (15-12-9) Wednesday night, as they fell to the Seattle Kraken (15-14-6) by a final score of 3-2 at Crypto.com Arena in the final game before the NHL’s late-December holiday break.

Kings goals came from Kevin Fiala and Andrei Kuzmenko, but both came after the team was already in a three-goal hole after allowing all of Seattle’s tallies during the second period. Goaltender Pheonix Copley, who was making his first NHL start of the 2025-26 season, stopped 25 shots in a losing effort for LA, who out-shot the Kraken 38-28 in the contest.

The two teams held each other off the scoreboard during the first 20 minutes, but one of the most eventful plays of the frame came with 31 seconds left when Brian Dumoulin was called for tripping. During the first segment of that Kraken power play, Copley stretched out to make his best save of the night, keeping the game scoreless.

But Seattle was able to make the power play count at 1:10 of the second when Jordan Eberle found himself wide open in front of the net and lifted the puck over Copley to give the Kraken a 1-0 lead.

Seattle added on at 7:26 of the middle period, scoring off an awkward play that saw the puck get deflected into the air. Copley came out to play it, but it slipped through the glove and then trickled through his legs and into the net. The fortunate bounce for the Kraken gave them a 2-0 advantage, with Frederick Gaudreau receiving credit for the goal.

The lead then stretched to 3-0 at 16:02 of the second when the Kraken finished off a 2-on-1 rush with a wrist shot by Ben Meyers that slipped past Copley.

11 seconds after Meyers’ goal, Fiala got LA back within two, scoring his 13th of the year unassisted on a backhand deke in front which then saw him roof the puck up high to make it a 3-1 game.

The Kings had a late chance to get closer when they got their first power play of the game in the closing minutes of the period and set up Armia for a quality look in the slot, but it was denied by Kraken netminder Joey Daccord.

Kuzmenko netted the only goal of the third at 8:45 by skating deep into the offensive zone on a rush before wrapping the puck into the net from behind the cage off Daccord’s skate. The tally made it a one-goal game and was Kuzmenko’s fourth strike in his last seven contests and seventh overall on the year.

LA was unable to get any closer, however, despite a great look in the final seconds with the net empty at the other end of the ice. Kevin Fiala had the puck on his stick and blasted it to the goal, but it hit off the crossbar and stayed out.

Seattle had the lone power play goal in the contest, going 1-for-2, while the Kings ended the game at 0-for-3 on the man-advantage. Daccord picked up the win after stopping 36 shots in the Kraken’s victory.

Postgame thoughts from Kuzmenko, Drew Doughty and head coach Jim Hiller are below.

Andrei Kuzmenko

Kevin Fiala
On the goal he scored in the second
It was a good forecheck from us and just a broken play. I had a quick chance to do a quick move.

On the team’s start
I thought our start was not too bad, to be honest. We just couldn’t score so we have to figure it out and try to get the lead and stay on top of it.

On whether the break is coming at a good time
The reality is that we have a break right now, so there’s nothing we should think about tomorrow, game or whatever. Just take a good break, enjoy with family and come with big energy back. Even if you win five in a row, or lose five in a row, it’s in the past. For us, I think we need to take the good things with us and the bad things we hopefully analyze and get better.

On if he is frustrated with his and team’s play
I’m not real happy, obviously. It’s not going the way we all want to, but that’s going to happen for everybody and not just players, but the whole team. It’s us who has to do something about it, who can pull us out of it, nobody else. It’s happened before, and personally I’ve been there before, and I’m sure everybody has been there before. It’s character showing of players and team to get back out of it. I’m not worried. I’m sure we’re going to get out of this, but it’s not acceptable right now how we play and we have to get better. I really believe in this group, I really believe this is a great team, great players, we just have to figure it out and find our game, not just for some minutes or one game, we have to go for a stretch here, try and get some wins in a row, start feeling good, start playing good and eventually it’s going to come.

Jim Hiller
On the most disappointing thing of being down 3-0
I think at that point, what was disappointing was us not having hit the back of the net. I thought we had some really good looks up until that point, didn’t feel like that was a game we should’ve been down 3-0. If you said it was 1-0, that would’ve been disappointing, because for me we had enough looks to certainly get the first one and get the lead.

On the number of shot attempts his team had
Well, we played in their zone. I think probably spent more time there than I can remember. The forecheck was good, physical, stole pucks, give them credit, they had people in and around their net, the goalie played good, and the two goals we scored were I thought pretty nice goals and just didn’t get the random goals that have been difficult for us to come by this year. We’ve had some other nights where we’ve thrown 70 or 80 at the net and came up short.

On the forward lines during the game
There was a lot of things to like offensively about the game, and really, we didn’t give them that much going the other way. You like the fact that we generated, Kuzy, I thought was, maybe his best he’s been all year from start to finish, I know he scored the goal but you saw him handle the puck under the goal line, control it, so that was a real positive for us. I thought the physicality, in particular Kempe, Byfield and Laferriere was a positive for us. But in the end, we don’t win the game, so that’s the feeling we take with us.

On the break starting now
The coaches and management never spend a day not thinking about it, I hope the players are able to relax and refresh themselves, it’s been from September until now, with the schedule and now busy it is and 85% of our games we’ve been playing within one goal, it’s taxing physically and mentally so I’m sure those guys need a break.

Notes –
-Forward Kevin Fiala (1-0=1) scored his 13th goal of the season tonight, tying Adrian Kempe (13 G) for the most goals by a Kings skater this season. The goal stands as Fiala’s 20th career point (4-16=20) against Seattle, which broke a four-way tie with Nathan MacKinnon (5-14=19), Cale Makar (5-14=19), and Nazem Kadri (8-11=19) for sole possession of the fifth-most points against the Kraken in NHL history.
-The goal also stood as Fiala’s 100th tally in a Kings uniform, becoming the 30th player in franchise history to reach the mark, and just the eighth born outside of North America to do so.
-Forward Andrei Kuzmenko (1-0=1) scored his seventh goal of the season. Kuzmenko (1-0=1, Dec. 22 v. CBJ) has scored in consecutive games for the first time this season, the third time he has done so in his Kings tenure. Kuzmenko has now recorded 10 points (5-5=10) over his last 10 games against Seattle, dating back to Oct. 27, 2022 (w/ VAN).
-Defenseman Drew Doughty (0-1=1) recorded his 10th assist of the campaign. Doughty becomes the 23rd defenseman in NHL history to record 18 or more seasons of double-digit assists. Doughty’s 536 assists put him one shy of tying former Kings defenseman Rob Blake (537A) for the 32nd most assists by a blueliner in League history, while he sits two points shy (162-536=698) of becoming the 32nd defenseman in NHL history to reach 700 career points.
-Defenseman Brandt Clarke (0-1=1) recorded his 11th assist of the season on Kuzmenko’s goal, earning his first point against the Kraken in seven career games and his 16th point overall this campaign. With the assist, Clarke (5-11=16) ties Joel Edmundson (2-11=13) for the most helpers among Kings bluelinera and moved into a tie for third among all skaters alongside Anze Kopitar (6-11=17) and Kevin Fiala (13-11=23).
-Goaltender Pheonix Copley made his season debut in goal tonight, his first NHL start since Dec. 10, 2023 at NYR. With the start, Copley joins Boston’s Jeremy Swayman as the only two Alaska-born goaltenders in League history to start a game in six NHL seasons. With the appearance tonight, The North Pole, AK, native has now seen game action in eight different NHL seasons, the fifth-most seasons by an Alaska born player in league history, trailing only Matt Carle (12x), Brandon Dubinsky (13x), Nate Thompson (15x) and Scott Gomez (16x).
-Forward Alex Laferriere recorded nine shots on goal (SOG) tonight, setting a new single-game career high. (6 SOG, 5x; Last: Oct. 26, 2025 at CHI).
-Captain Anze Kopitar played his 1,486th career regular season game tonight and enters the League’s three-day break just one game behind Wayne Gretzky (1,487 GP) for 27th-most games played in NHL history.
-Tonight’s game also marked Kopitar’s 742nd home game, tying Rod Brind’Amour (742 GP) and Teemu Selanne (742 GP) for 28th most all-time, while forward Corey Perry played his 709th home game this evening, tying Stan Mikita (709 GP) for the 41st on that list.

The Kings return to the ice on Saturday night for a Freeway Faceoff matchup against the Anaheim Ducks at 6 p.m. at Crypto.com Arena.