Kings clinch playoff berth with win against Flames

LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Kings clinched a Stanley Cup Playoff berth with a 4-1 win against the Calgary Flames at Crypto.com Arena on Thursday.

“That was our goal starting training camp, so one step at a time, and I think we did a good job in the regular season to get to this point,” said Kings forward Viktor Arvidsson, who scored twice.

Akil Thomas scored for the second straight game, and Anze Kopitar had two assists for the Kings (42-26-11), who have won four of five and moved three points ahead of the Vegas Golden Knights for third in the Pacific Division. Cam Talbot made 22 saves.

“Each season, it’s a new season,” Los Angeles interim coach Jim Hiller said. “It goes back to when we took off to Melbourne. So, everybody who’s been involved has been a part of the team reaching the playoffs. I think everybody should be proud of that. It’s a hard thing to do. And more importantly, it’s exciting because now you get to take the next step. You’ve earned the right to take the next step.”

Jonathan Huberdeau scored, and Jacob Markstrom made 26 saves for the Flames (35-38-5), who are 2-9-0 in their past 11 games.

“I don’t think we were quite ready for them tonight,” Calgary defenseman Daniil Miromanov said. “They came out hard and they were on top of us, really. We weren’t efficient on our transition game and breakouts.”

Kevin Fiala put the Kings ahead 1-0 with a power-play goal at 6:48 of the first period, scoring on a wrist shot from the top of the left circle through a screen by Arvidsson.

Arvidsson then scored 54 seconds into the second period with a wrist shot from the right circle to make it 2-0.

“He’s doing a lot of stuff right,” Kopitar said. “Obviously, he’s mostly known for scoring and putting up points, but even in the small area department, he’s very successful in winning battles, blocking shots and making sure he’s in the right spot for his linemates. So, he’s doing a lot of stuff right for us.”

Thomas pushed it to 3-0 at 7:42, redirecting down Matt Roy’s shot from the right point. He has three goals through his first five NHL games.

“It’s great to see the puck go in for anybody,” Hiller said. “Now to get three in five games, I don’t know that that’s going to keep up necessarily, but it’s what he’s doing beyond that. And he’s earning the coaches’ trust. He goes out there, he works, he takes the body, understands the game really well. To sort of see him score goals is really a bonus, but we’ll take them for sure.”

Huberdeau cut it to 3-1 at 8:28 of the third period, getting to the top of the crease and tipping in Miromanov’s shot.

“I don’t think we were competitive enough in the first two periods,” Flames coach Ryan Huska said. “Third period, I thought we started to skate a little bit. We had more zone time than we had the first two periods, but I think a lot of it came down to the competitive side, and not clean or crisp with the puck.”

Arvidsson scored into an empty net at 16:46 for the 4-1 final.

He has 11 points (four goals, seven assists) in 15 games this season, missing the first 50 because of a back injury that required surgery and another 13 because of a lower-body injury.

“I’ve been bringing what I want to bring, maybe a little bit inconsistently from shift to shift, but I think I create chances and work hard, so that’s kind of my game,” Arvidsson said. “I want to keep contributing with that.”