Kempe’s Overtime Winner Powers Kings to 2-1 Victory Over Jets – The Hockey Writers Winnipeg Jets Latest News, Analysis & More

The Los Angeles Kings defeated the Winnipeg Jets 2-1 in overtime at Canada Life Centre Friday night in a tight-checking affair.

Adrian Kempe’s top-shelf snipe on a two-on-one 1:14 into the extra frame earned the Kings the extra point, their fifth-straight win, and improved their record to 24-10-5. The Jets fell to 28-12-3 with the loss.

JUICE! CALLS! GAME! pic.twitter.com/Zii55Rfunv

— LA Kings (@LAKings) January 11, 2025

The Kings appeared to open the scoring early in the first when Jordan Spence fired one past Eric Comrie from the point, but the Jets successfully challenged for offside. Neither Comrie nor Kings goaltender Darcy Kuemper had much to do in the frame as the shots were 6-4 Kings after one.

Kings Take Lead in Second, Jets Tie Game in Third

The Kings found a legitimate goal early in the second to truly open the scoring when Alex Turcotte scored on high tip. They then had two power-play opportunities thereafter to extend their lead but couldn’t score on either. However, they did a great job preventing the usually-dangerous Jets from generating many chances off the rush, limiting them to nine shots through two.

The Jets began to push in the first half of the third period and received back-to-back power plays at 6:46 and 9:58. The Kings killed off the first one with no shots surrendered, but could not kill off the second as Mark Scheifele finished off a nice three-way passing play with Gabriel Vilardi and Kyle Connor.

The game remained knotted 1-1 through the rest of the third period, paving the way for Kempe’s overtime heroics.

Notes & Observations

Prior to puck drop, the Jets had a pregame ceremony celebrating goaltender Connor Hellebuyck, who captured his 300th-career win on Jan. 7. True North Sports & Entertainment executive chairman Mark Chipman presented him with a custom art piece, $25,000 donation to the mental-health charity Project 11, a commemorative puck from his 40th-career shutout, and a silver stick. He was also given a golden stick from the NHL.

The Kings played for the first time since Saturday, Jan. 4 as their Jan. 8 game at home versus the Calgary Flames was postponed due to the ongoing Southern California wildfires, which have devastated large neighbourhoods of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Jets and Kings both wore special helmet stickers honouring the Los Angeles Fire Department.

The LA Kings and Winnipeg Jets are honoring the LA Fire Department with helmet stickers tonight

(via @LAKings) pic.twitter.com/nT5lGZmyal

— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) January 10, 2025

Comrie has now lost seven-straight starts since winning his first three of the season. The Jets have scored only 11 goals in those seven starts.

Defenseman Dylan Samberg returned to the Jets lineup after missing 21 games with a broken foot he suffered on Nov. 23. He skated 22:35 on the second pairing aside Neal Pionk, recording one hit and two blocked shots.

The Jets’ power play went one for two, while the Kings went zero for three. The shots were 23-19 for the Kings.

The attendance was 14,218.

The Jets and Kings are both back in action tomorrow. The Jets will host the Colorado Avalanche in the fifth game of their season-long eight-game home stand while the Kings will head to Calgary to face the Flames in the second game of their five-game road trip.