LOS ANGELES -- A big story heading into the season for the Los Angeles Kings was the ascendancy of young forward Quinton Byfield.
After a breakout 2023-24 season, a new contract over the summer and a move back to the middle after failed acquisition Pierre-Luc Dubois was sent to the Washington Capitals, all eyes were on Byfield this season.
The early season returns were disappointing for Byfield who registered just three goals and 11 points in the first 29 games. However, after a goal and a highlight-reel assist against the New York Rangers six games ago, Byfield is starting to turn his season around.
Against the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday, Byfield proved what a difference-maker he can be. With Anze Kopitar and Phil Danault taking on the defensive responsibilities against Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, Byfield and his line grabbed all four goals in a 4-3 overtime win.
Having a line that can flip the game in LA's favor behind Kopitar and Danault has been a big problem against Edmonton and Byfield might be the answer.
His assist for Warren Foegele's goal was a fortunate one, however, Byfield's two goals were fantastic. They were also goals we haven't seen enough of from Byfield in his young career. It wasn't tapping puck in right outside the crease or feeding off a brilliant Kopitar pass, Byfield cleanly beat Stuart Skinner with his shot twice and is proving he can consistently do so at the NHL level.
Having Byfield add a true goal-scoring element to his game is massive for the Kings. It gives them an offensive threat they're desperately missing behind Kopitar and Adrian Kempe and can be what finally sees them past the first round of the postseason.
We can't get carried away after a six game hot streak or one regular season win against the Oilers. But seeing Byfield finally be a difference-maker on his own line is very encouraging for the Kings.
"Your're right, probably since the Rangers game where I put one by Shesterkin, it feels like I can beat goalies again," said Byfield on the confidence he has when shooting now.
Jim Hiller also acknowledged post game that they were relying on Byfield's line to be the difference against Edmonton given their more favourable matchup.
"Let's be honest, when you're against McDavid or Draisaitl's line you're probably looking for a wash, you're probably thinking, 'if we can saw this off, that's going to give us our best chance.' And somebody else has to be the line that scores the goals or comes out positive, so that was really important tonight. You could see it right from the get go, I think it was the first or second shift they hemmed them in right away, you could see they had legs and were ready to go."
Hiller then pointed out that Byfield did matchup against Draisaitl and McDavid at times as they game went on and that they trust him in that matchup.
It's not time to crown Byfield's season back on track, but he's getting there and as Hiller pointed out, he's finding his baseline for production.
"I thought [Quinton] was our best player in Washington," Hiller said on Byfield's recent play after a slow start. "It goes up and down, it really does, and players get into streaks and I think the longer you get in your career where you go through the ups and downs, I think of Kopi, he's really the example. He knows if he's not scoring for a little bit, no big deal, he's going to start scoring sooner or later. He's just got that baseline where he knows it. I still think Q is still trying to hit that watermark."
It's about consistency now for Byfield but he proved on Saturday what an important part of the Kings' success he is and the kind of difference-maker he can be in the most important games for LA.