LOS ANGELES -- Quinton Byfield scored with 1:23 remaining in overtime, and the Los Angeles Kings recovered from blowing a four-goal, third-period lead for a 6-5 win against the Ottawa Senators at Crypto.com Arena on Thursday.
Byfield scored on a wrist shot from the top of the left circle to give the Kings their first home win following three straight losses in regulation to start the season. Drew Doughty had the primary assist, his third of the game, and Artemi Panarin had the secondary assist, starting the play then going off for a change with Byfield jumping on the ice.
“Yeah, great shot,” Doughty said. “Came off the bench and was just flying in there.
Had a great, great scoring chance, and just a great shot look out there. We need him to be one of our best players every night if this team wants to go where we want it to go.”
Panarin, Trevor Moore, Mikey Anderson and Joel Armia scored as part of a four-goal second period for the Kings (4-6-2). Darcy Kuemper made 17 saves.
“The point is, I think, really, ultimately, is that we won the game, and that’s the biggest thing,” Doughty said. “I mean, that can never happen again, ultimately.
But again, like I said, we played some really good hockey for a long time, and we won the game, so we’ll just take it.”
Shane Pinto tipped in Drake Batherson’s shot with 1:40 left in regulation after Samuel Ersson was pulled for an extra attacker to earn a point for the Senators (8-5-1) after they trailed 5-1 going into the third period.
Dylan Cozens scored twice and had an assist, Batherson had a goal and two assists, and Tim Stutzle had three assists for Ottawa, which has lost the first two games of a five-game road trip.
Jonas Johansson was pulled in the second period after allowing four goals on 16 shots, and Ersson made 20 saves in relief.
“Obviously, It’s not good enough by us,” Cozens said. “We gave them too much in the second period there and dug ourselves a hole.
But we did battle back and get a point, and it’s a big point, but obviously we put ourselves in a bad position.”
The Senators scored twice in a span of 33 seconds in the third period to put pressure on the Kings. Cozens cut the deficit to 5-2 at 7:18 on a wrist shot from the right circle through traffic, and Batherson made it 5-3 at 7:51 on a snap shot from the high slot.
Cozens made it 5-4 at 12:34 on the power play when his backhand effort to jam in Stutzle’s rebound trickled between Kuemper’s legs and over the goal line before Los Angeles could pull it back, setting the stage for Pinto to tie it 5-5.
“Obviously, proud of the way we battled back to tie it up,” Batherson said. “’Ers’ came in, played well.
Like I said, got back to our game in the third, and got a big point, really.”
The Senators went up 1-0 at 11:24 of the first period on Tyler Kleven’s second goal of the season. He charged the slot to backhand in Fabian Zetterlund’s rebound following a one-timer from the right circle.
The Kings responded on the power play, with Erik Haula tying it up 1-1 at 15:09 when he was in the left circle to redirect Brandt Clarke’s long shot. It was their first home goal on the man-advantage this season, having gone 0-for-11 through three games to start the season.
Moore put Los Angeles ahead 2-1 at 6:51 of the second period by attacking the crease and tipping Byfield’s centering pass under Johansson’s right arm.
Anderson made it 3-1 at 10:17 on a slap shot from above the left circle through traffic.
Johansson was pulled after Armia’s shot from the top of the left circle hit the left post and went in off the goalie’s backside to give the Kings a 4-1 lead at 10:54.
Panarin made it 5-1 with a wrist shot from the top of the left circle during a two-man advantage at 15:43.
“Second periods, we’ve been talking about that, right? It was clearly the best second period of the year, like not even a question,” Kings coach Peter Laviolette said.
“Third period, I thought it started OK in the first couple of minutes, and then it got off the rails. And I think there’s things that we could do better.”
NOTES: Los Angeles defenseman Brandt Clarke did not return following an elbow to the head from Ottawa forward Hayden Hodgson at 11:15 of the second period. Hodgson received a major penalty for boarding and game misconduct.
Laviolette did not have an update on Clarke’s status following the game.
Batherson has 11 points (five goals, six assists) during a six-game point streak. It was his fifth straight game with an assist.
