Kings right wing Adrian Kempe (9) grabs the neck of Utah Mammoth center Jack McBain (22) during the third period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, March 28, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Kings defenseman Brian Dumoulin (2) shoves Utah Mammoth left wing Michael Carcone (53) during the third period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, March 28, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Utah Mammoth center Logan Cooley (92) is pressured by Kings defenseman Brian Dumoulin (2) during the third period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, March 28, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Kings players leave the rink after an NHL hockey game against the Utah Mammoth Saturday, March 28, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Kings goaltender Darcy Kuemper (35) stops a shot by Utah Mammoth right wing Clayton Keller (9) during the first period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, March 28, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Kings center Anze Kopitar (11) celebrates his goal with teammates during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Utah Mammoth Saturday, March 28, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Utah Mammoth center Logan Cooley (92) celebrates his goal with defenseman Mikhail Sergachev (98) during the first period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, March 28, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Utah Mammoth center Alexander Kerfoot (15) celebrates his goal during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Kings Saturday, March 28, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
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Kings right wing Adrian Kempe (9) grabs the neck of Utah Mammoth center Jack McBain (22) during the third period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, March 28, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
LOS ANGELES — Seattle cracked a window and Nashville opened a door but the Kings couldn’t pass through either entrance, instead falling kerplunk against the Utah Mammoth, 6-2, at Crypto.com Arena on Saturday evening.
The team ahead of the Kings by a point in the wild-card race, the Predators, was pummeled similarly by Montreal, while the Kraken now trail the Kings by just a point after losing in a shootout to Buffalo. Winnipeg’s win over Colorado moved the Jets within two points of the Kings after trailing them by as many as 11.
The Kings haven’t prevailed at home since March 5 and haven’t taken consecutive contests at Crypto.com Arena since Jan. 5. Since then, they’ve won just three of 15 decisions on home ice. They could have possibly averted a buzzsaw matchup against the Avalanche in Round 1, but now fell six points behind Utah instead of narrowing the gap to two.
Utah, which occupies the top wild-card spot, won for the second time in its past five games, with both victories coming against the Kings.
“We were flat. We played slow. We didn’t forecheck. We didn’t play to the identity that we have played with, and that’s fast, physical and above you, and that was a recipe for disaster tonight,” Kings interim head coach D.J. Smith said.
He added: “Our passing wasn’t good. We were not sharp in any facet of the game … against a team that’s fighting for the playoffs just like us, it’s just not good enough.”
Adrian Kempe scored a goal after assisting on another by Anže Kopitar. Darcy Kuemper was removed from the match at the second intermission and relieved by Anton Forsberg.
Logan Cooley and Alex Kerfoot each struck twice for Utah. Nick Schmaltz added a goal before Jack McBain tacked on an empty-netter. Mikhail Sergachev contributed four assists and captain Clayton Keller had two, both of the primary variety. Karel Vejmelka made 29 saves.
The Kings showed signs of life 4:34 into the closing stanza, with Kempe flinging a shot to the short side through traffic for his team-topping 27th goal of 2025-26.
With over six minutes to play, the Kings pulled Forsberg while down three, only to see McBain find the vacated cage to pour cement over an already concrete outcome.
The second period brought no respite for the Kings, who allowed its only two goals, leaving themselves on a steep incline at intermission.
“It doesn’t matter if (sets in) or not, we’re in the thick of things and fighting for our lives, so mental fatigue, you just have to overcome it,” Kopitar said. “We’ve got to bring it every night, and that’s just the way it is.”w
There was symmetry to Periods 1 and 2, where they trailed by two goals at the end of one session and two more at the conclusion of the other, while also going 0-for-2 on both the power play and penalty kill (they’d later kill one penalty).
That factored into Utah’s fifth goal, when Schmaltz scored with the extra man as 3:43 displayed on the clock. It was a broken play after Sergachev’s one-timer hit Cooley and found Keller, who sent the puck into the slot for Schmaltz to go skate-to-stick and pop one past Kuemper.
Utah had gone up 4-1 at the 12:37 mark off Kerfoot’s second tally. All of Utah’s even-strength goals resulted from counterattacks. Ian Cole skyhooked the puck out of the Utah zone, allowing Kerfoot to skate under it and challenge Drew Doughty, who slid just before a patient Kerfoot ripped a shot far side as Dylan Guenther was arriving at the back post.
“We were one-and-done, we’d get in on the forecheck, they’d break it out and all of a sudden it was an odd-man rush,” Doughty said. “That’s not our style of hockey; that’s not the way we play.”
The Kings have won just six of 37 games this season in which their opponents scored first and that was their task after falling behind 2:31 into the tilt. They’d go down 2-0 at 16:33, recoup a goal 78 seconds later and then finish the frame trailing 3-1 after allowing a man-advantage marker.
No. 11 scored his 12th goal of the year to halve the Kings’ deficit, facing Kempe and tipping his shot home from the doorstep. But exactly two minutes afterward, the Kings were picking the puck out of their own net, with nine seconds left in the period.
“We did a great job in the second (period), and the power play was huge, getting a goal there at the end of the first to give us a little momentum. We carried that into the second and didn’t let up,” Kerfoot said.
Cooley’s second celebration came during a power play, when he juked Mikey Anderson, beat Kuemper far side and barked some choice words at Doughty afterward.
On his prior goal, Cooley had burned Cody Ceci, Brian Dumoulin and Mathieu Joseph when he skated down a long pass off the end boards and slammed the puck through Kuemper’s five hole.
Kerfoot had broken the ice after John Marino intercepted Anderson’s flipped puck in the neutral zone, allowing Kerfoot and Marino to execute a give-and-go sequence that ended with a redirection goal.
The Kings return to their not-so-sweet home ice on Wednesday against the St. Louis Blues.