Byfield scores in OT to lift Kings past Maple Leafs

TORONTO – Quinton Byfield scored 35 seconds into overtime and the Los Angeles Kings rallied to defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-3 at Scotiabank Arena on Thursday.

Byfield one-timed a pass from Drew Doughty at the right face-off dot to give the Kings the win.

“Even the first period we were down two but it didn’t feel like that for us,” Byfield said. “Coming off a good game in Pittsburgh, a comeback win there (on Sunday) and then a great game in Montreal (on Tuesday), just getting that feeling over here, we didn’t feel like we were down. A lot of hope in here and we knew we were going to come back.”

Warren Foegele, Kevin Fiala and Alex Laferriere scored and Darcy Kuemper made 12 saves for the Kings (9-5-4), who have won three in a row and four of their past five.

“I liked how we played,” Los Angeles coach Jim Hiller said. “I know we were trailing but what was important for us was we didn’t get frustrated and start chasing it and giving them chances to go the other way. We just kept throwing it at the net and eventually we got one.

John Tavares scored twice and Bobby McMann scored for the Maple Leafs (8-8-2), who are 0-3-1 in their past four. Dennis Hildeby, who appeared in his fourth straight game since being recalled on Saturday, made 33 saves.

“Dennis was our best player no doubt,” Tavares said. “Just stood tall, was real calm, trusted his game. Obviously with his size, he covers a lot of net. He was tremendous.”

Toronto was without captain Auston Matthews, who is out a week with a lower-body injury sustained in a 5-3 loss to the Boston Bruins on Tuesday. They are 45-24-3 all time without Matthews in the lineup since he entered the League in 2016-17.

Laferriere tied it 3-3 at 13:10 of the third period when he deflected a point shot from Brandt Clarke in the slot.

“Just being connected in the offensive zone is something we’ve been preaching a lot and I think those two goals (the second and third goals) specifically it really showed,” Laferriere said. “We were getting pucks to the net and being able to win those puck battles back and kind of just keep going at them. If one guy is not doing their job out there then we are not going to hem them in like that. It took all five guys and those goals were just unbelievable connected hockey.”

The Kings outshot the Maple Leafs 16-7 in the third period.

Toronto went up 1-0 at 8:06 of the first period. McMann turned the puck over to Adrian Kempe in the defensive zone but stole it back, leading to a breakaway where his shot caught a piece of Kuemper’s right pad before trickling over the goal line.

“We came out hard, we came out with a lot of energy and then it is just knowing we have to stick with it and stick with our game plan and what works and making sure we were making their defense turn and go 200 feet and continue to push that game and not change because things aren’t going well,” McMann said.

Tavares made it 2-0 at 16:39 when he redirected a pass from Oliver Ekman-Larsson at the top of the goal crease.

Foegele cut it to 2-1 at 6:51 of the second period when he shot low to the glove side from the left face-off dot.

“I thought I did some good things but I definitely could have done things differently as well,” Hildeby said. “It’s hockey, you make mistakes and unfortunately you get punished for them.”

The Kings tied it 2-2 at 15:41 when Fiala put in a rebound at the side of the net from Byfield’s shot.

Tavares put Toronto up 3-2 at 17:16 when he got behind the Kings defense in the slot, took a pass from William Nylander, who was high in the slot, and deked to the backhand past Kuemper’s outstretched left pad.

“I liked our first period, I thought we did some real good things, defended well, really our sticks were good, we did a lot of good things,” Toronto coach Craig Berube said. “I thought they three-quarter iced us in the second and the reason that is is because when you get pucks back in our own zone, we got to get out of it. We’ve got to make a play to advance it up the ice, we didn’t do a good job of it. We’ve got the lead in the third and I thought we sat back a little too much.”

The win improved the Kings to 8-1-2 on the road this season and extended their road point streak to nine games (7-0-2) since Oct. 13.

“I think we are playing pretty good hockey, our goalie is making some timely saves, that’s always important and I just think we’ve found a little bit of our rhythm and now we are in a good place,” Hiller said.

NOTES: Nylander played in his 700th NHL game. He has 270 goals and 367 assists. His assist on Tavares’ second goal extended his point streak to 12 games (21 points; seven goals, 14 assists). He has a point in 14 of the 15 games he has played. ... With two assists, Drew Doughty recorded his 133rd career multipoint game and passed Charlie Simmer for the ninth most in Kings history.