Kings avoid collapse against Flyers with Byfield's OT winner

Adrian Kempe's two early goals and Quinton Byfield's overtime score were enough to help the Los Angeles Kings sneak by the Philadelphia Flyers, 3-2, at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Saturday morning.

Improving to 23-17-13, Los Angeles has now earned six points through the first four of a five-game road trip. They've now earned points in 13 of their last 14 trips to the City of Brotherly Love.

Byfield's clutch shot marked his 10th goal of the season and snapped a streak of five consecutive games without a point. It was the second overtime winner of the season for the 23-year-old, who sealed also a 4-3 victory over the Maple Leafs on Nov. 13. 

Drew Doughty, who earned his 11th assist on the play, inked himself into the history books in the process. He became the first ever Kings defenseman to reach 700 career points, reaching the milestone in his 18th season with the club.

Kyle Ross-Imagn Images

Despite the early start time on the road, Kempe came out of the gates firing and scored twice in the opening seven and a half minutes of the contest. He leapfrogged Kevin Fiala to regain the team lead with his 19th and 20th goals of the year.

With his first score, he secured his sixth-ever point streak of at least six games. The 29-year-old has now come even with the fourth-longest point streak in his career and now has 13 points (9 goals, 4 assists) in 15 career matchups against the Flyers.

His quick work gave Los Angeles the padding they needed before Trevor Zegras quickly got Philadelphia on the board less than a minute into the second period. It was the lone power play goal for either side in the game, bringing the Flyers even with the Kings at 25 extra-stregnth scores.

Darcy Kuemper managed to defend the net promisingly through the remaining 19 minutes of the period before Travis Konecny followed in the footsteps of Zegras, finding the net in the opening 30 seconds of the final period. It was his team-leading 22nd score of the season, helping Philadelphia erase a 2-0 deficit. 

In total, Kuemper made 18 saves as he held on long enough for Byfield and the Kings to escape with a road victory. He improved to 14-10-9, winning the third of his last four appearances.

Along with the win came the anticipated return of captain Anze Kopitar, who returned to the ice after missing 11 games with an upper-body injury sustained in a Jan. 5 victory over the Minnesota Wild. With his next point, he will become the 39th player in NHL history to register 1,300 career points.

The Kings will finish off their five-game trip against the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday afternoon, completing the second leg of a back-to-back. Carolina currently sits atop the Metropolitan Division (33-15-5) and claimed the first battle of the season between the two squads, 4-3 in OT on Oct. 18.

Puck drop is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. PT.