The LA Kings scored twice in the third period to start a long roadtrip with a victory, a 3-2 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday afternoon in Pittsburgh.

Midway through the opening period, Pittsburgh opened the scoring through forward Tommy Novak. After winning a faceoff in the offensive zone, the Penguins went to work. Forward Evgeni Malkin, who originally won the draw, shook free and after he accepted a pass from defenseman Parker Wotherspoon, he drove towards the net and hit Novak in the slot, where he buried his second goal of the season for a 1-0 lead.

Later in the opening period, the Kings scored a power-play goal for the third straight game to tie the game at one heading into the first intermission. Forward Kevin Fiala made a great play along the wall, battling through a check to keep the play alive, working the puck to forward Anze Kopitar. Kopitar’s cross-crease pass was then deflected by Wotherspoon, into the back of the net, tying the game on Kopitar’s second goal of the season.

At the very end of Pittsburgh’s first power play of the game, the Kings gave up a goal to forward Anthony Mantha, which put the hosts back ahead. After the Kings were unable to get a clear through the middle of the ice, the Penguins turned things around the other way, with defenseman Kris Letang eventually feeding Mantha, who buried from the left-hand circle for a 2-1 lead.

Early in the third period, the Kings finally broke through off the rush as forward Corey Perry tied the game at two. Forward Trevor Moore gained the offensive blueline, working the puck to defenseman Cody Ceci, who teed up Perry in the high slot and the veteran winger beat rookie goaltender Sergei Murashov on the blocker side for his team-leading seventh goal of the season and a 2-2 scoreline.

Fiala made it a multi-point game later in the third period as a fantastic individual effort sealed the two points for the Kings. After taking a pass from defenseman Drew Doughty, Fiala went 1-on-1, deked from forehand to backhand around his defenseman, before he went back to the forehand for the goal, tying Perry for the team lead, to secure a 3-2 victory for the Kings.

Hear from Fiala, goaltender Darcy Kuemper and Head Coach Jim Hiller following today’s win.

Kevin Fiala

Darcy Kuemper
On starting off a long roadtrip with a win in the first game
We did it on the last long trip too and just getting that first one under your belt kind of puts you in a good spot to go play free the rest of the trip. Just a tremendous effort in the third to come out on the right side of it.

On the team’s performance on the road versus at home so far this season
I think we’re playing complete games on the road right now. [We’re] being tight and playing more the style we want to on a more consistent basis. Not that we’re not doing it at home, it’s starting to come, but just the 60-minute efforts seem to be there right now on the road. We just want to keep building our game and then it’ll start translating to both home and road games.

On the left-pad save he made early in the third period to keep it a one-goal game
I mean, great pass. I was trying to play shot first and he made a great pass and I was luckily to be able to stretch out just enough to get to it.

On Kevin Fiala’s play today
Yeah, I mean we needed a spark in the third there down one. It’s a tough situation, especially in someone else’s building, and he just kind of took over the game every time he was on the ice and then the rest of the group builds off that. He was rewarded with a huge goal but it was also his play that led us to get to that spot.

Jim Hiller
On if today was one of Kevin Fiala’s most impactful games as a King
It really was. Him and I talked before the game and we knew, both of us understood that he would have to have a good game for us to win, so it’s great to see. When you deliver when you say ‘get me out there and I’ll deliver’ and you get out there and you deliver, I think he played over 23 minutes, it’s pretty easy to keep putting him back out there. What a game, what a game. Deliver, that’s the part I like. You say, get me out there, I’m going to deliver, and you do it.

On the team’s success on the road versus at home
It’s funny, make sense of it, right? Last year, we couldn’t lose at home and didn’t win a lot on the road. This year, it’s just different, it’s just hockey. Sometimes it’s hard to explain.

On Darcy Kuemper’s save on Bryan Rust early in the third period
Yeah, that was a nice play. We didn’t play that one right and he was there for us. That’s what you need, you know what I mean? We’ve talked about being in-opportunistic, making a few mistakes and them going in. There, we made a mistake, they roasted us, Crosby and Rust, and there he was to make the save. Held the fort, allowed us to get back. It’s a big moment.

On another goal from Corey Perry and what he’s brought to the team
We’ve got to talk about Corey. I don’t think anybody expected him to come in and play 14, 15 minutes a night and any of this stuff. It’s just really, really impressive and he makes it look easy. I don’t know how he does it, I just don’t. He’s got tremendous hockey sense and soft hands but he just makes the game somehow look pretty easy. He’s done it his whole career but doing it now, the way he’s doing it, it’s really nice.

On starting off a long trip with a win on the road
We wanted that one. We were in and out for the first 40 minutes. I didn’t think we gave them a lot, we didn’t create much, it was kind of a back and forth, muddley. So, we really had to decide after two, we’re down by one on the road, if we had the energy to come out and really go for it and that’s what happened. We went for it and we were rewarded. You don’t always get rewarded. We haven’t been rewarded at home enough but you love it when the guys put the extra effort in and get rewarded.

Notes –
– Forward Corey Perry (1-1=2) earned his fourth assist of the season before knotting the contest at a pair of goals apiece with his seventh tally of the year. The Peterborough, Ontario, native now has three separate multi-point outings on the year, the third most on the team behind only Adrian Kempe (5) and Quinton Byfield (4). Perry is the only 40-year-old in Kings history with multiple multi-point games and joins Alex Ovechkin (3x) as the first pair of players to have more than one such game at their age since Zdeno Chara (9x) did so from the 2017-18 season through the 2020-21 campaign.
– Perry’s 11 points (4-7=11) through his first 10 appearances of the campaign are the most by a 40-year-old in their first 10 games with a franchise in NHL history, surpassing Joe Thornton’s point-per-game pace to open with Toronto (3-7=10) from Jan. 13 through Feb. 27, 2021. Perry is also the oldest player to begin his tenure with the LA Kings in such fashion, surpassing the previous mark set by Larry Robinson (0-11=11) from Oct. 5 – 25, 1989, at age 38.
– Forward Kevin Fiala (1-1=2) contributed his fifth assist of the season before putting the Kings ahead 3-2 in the final frame with his seventh goal of the campaign. The native of St. Gallen, Switzerland, minted his 62nd multi-point game in a Kings uniform to become the second skater of Swiss nationality to reach the 500-point mark, following Roman Josi (191-538=729).
– Fiala’s 12 game-winning goals (GWG) are the third most by a Kings skater since he joined the team ahead of the 2022-23 season, trailing only Kempe (18 GWG) and Anze Kopitar (17 GWG).
– Fiala’s assist on Kopitar’s goal in the first period stands as the Swiss winger’s team-leading sixth point (2-4=6) on the man-advantage.
– Captain Anze Kopitar (1-0=1) scored his second goal of the season, extending his point-streak against the Penguins to a sixth game (1- 7=8), dating back to Feb. 11, 2023.
– Defenseman Cody Ceci (0-1=1) notched his third assist of the year, his second point against the Penguins this season (0-1=1; Oct. 16)
– Forward Trevor Moore (0-1=1) picked up his second assist of the campaign today on Perry’s game-tying goal. Both of Moore’s assists this season have come against the Kings’ 1967 NHL expansion cousins (0-1=1; Oct. 16).
– Defenseman Drew Doughty (0-1=1) recorded his fourth assist of the season with the primary set-up on Fiala’s go-ahead goal. The 35-year-old blueliner skates out of PPG Paints Arena having now extended his point streak in the building to a sixth game (1-5=6), dating back to Dec. 15, 2018.
– Forward Alex Laferriere (0-1=1) earned his fourth helper of the year today, his first career point against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
– Goaltender Darcy Kuemper made 31 saves today at PPG Paints Arena to earn his fifth win of the season and has now helped the Kings earn points in six straight appearances on the road (4-0-2), dating back to Oct. 13 in Minnesota.

The Kings are scheduled to practice tomorrow in Montreal at Bell Centre, in advance of Tuesday’s game versus the Canadiens.