{"id":518445,"date":"2026-03-23T13:14:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T13:14:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/518445\/"},"modified":"2026-03-23T13:14:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T13:14:17","slug":"utahs-schmaltz-nets-two-goals-including-ot-winner-to-beat-la-kings-4-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/518445\/","title":{"rendered":"Utah\u2019s Schmaltz Nets Two Goals Including OT Winner to Beat LA Kings 4-3"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

\n Nick Schmaltz delivered a clutch overtime performance, scoring twice including the game-winner to lead Utah past Los Angeles 4-3. The victory keeps Utah in playoff position while the Kings continue to struggle in their postseason push.\n <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Nick Schmaltz delivered when it mattered most, netting the decisive goal just 1 minute and 46 seconds into overtime as Utah defeated the Los Angeles Kings 4-3 on Sunday evening in Salt Lake City.<\/p>\n

The forward controlled a 2-on-1 rush into the attacking zone, elected to shoot rather than pass, and fired a wrist shot past goaltender Darcy Kuemper for his second tally of the night.<\/p>\n

Lawson Crouse contributed a pair of goals plus one assist for Utah (37-28-6, 80 points), which has captured three victories in its last four contests and currently occupies the top wild-card position for Western Conference playoff qualification. Kevin Stenlund recorded two helpers while goalkeeper Karel Vejmelka turned aside 33 shots.<\/p>\n

Quinton Byfield tallied once and added an assist for Los Angeles (28-25-17, 73 points), which has dropped three consecutive games and sits two points behind Nashville for the West\u2019s second wild-card berth. Kuemper stopped 30 attempts between the pipes.<\/p>\n

Los Angeles forward Artemi Panarin knotted the score at 3-3 with 3:30 remaining in regulation, extending his scoring streak to three games. Panarin carried the puck on a rush, momentarily lost possession but regained control, then fired from a difficult angle near the right boards that somehow slipped beneath Vejmelka\u2019s left leg pad.<\/p>\n

Crouse opened the scoring for Utah at the 7:04 mark of the opening frame. John Marino stripped the puck from Sam Helenius, circled behind the net and delivered a pass to Crouse in the slot, who converted with a quick wrist shot.<\/p>\n

Alex Laferriere answered just 36 seconds afterward, carrying the puck on a 2-on-1 break and electing to shoot, beating Vejmelka with a snap shot from the right faceoff circle to even things at 1-1.<\/p>\n

Crouse restored Utah\u2019s advantage at 9:19, receiving a feed at the bottom of the left circle and lifting the puck up and over Kuemper into the upper portion of the goal for a 2-1 lead.<\/p>\n

Byfield responded 28 seconds later to tie it again. After Vejmelka stopped Brandt Clarke\u2019s long-range attempt but couldn\u2019t secure the rebound, the goalie knocked the loose puck away only to have Byfield collect it and score from the left circle.<\/p>\n

The middle period remained deadlocked until Schmaltz knocked home his own rebound at 16:11 following a scramble in front of the net, giving Utah a 3-2 advantage heading into the final frame.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nick Schmaltz delivered a clutch overtime performance, scoring twice including the game-winner to lead Utah past Los Angeles…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":518446,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5126],"tags":[56123,56124,56117,56125,56119,56120,56118,56121,5,186,1760,240,5303,793,145,5304,5302,4,56122],"class_list":{"0":"post-518445","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-kings","8":"tag-102-3","9":"tag-102-3fm","10":"tag-fine-day","11":"tag-fine-day-102-3","12":"tag-fine-day-fm","13":"tag-fine-day-media","14":"tag-fine-day-radio","15":"tag-have-a-fine-day","16":"tag-hockey","17":"tag-kings","18":"tag-la","19":"tag-la-kings","20":"tag-lakings","21":"tag-los-angeles","22":"tag-los-angeles-kings","23":"tag-losangeles","24":"tag-losangeleskings","25":"tag-nhl","26":"tag-weller-radio"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116278675224690771","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=518445"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518445\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/518446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=518445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=518445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=518445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}