Flames fail to extend Pacific lead with loss to Kings

CALGARY -- The Calgary Flames failed to extend their Pacific Division and Western Conference lead in a 3-0 loss to the Los Angeles Kings at Scotiabank Saddledome on Monday.

Calgary (47-22-7), which had won three straight, leads the San Jose Sharks by six points.
"You're not going to win every game," Flames captain Mark Giordano said. "That's just a reality. But yeah, you want to keep piling them up while you can. We knew they would come in and work hard and play a structured game, play well defensively. That's what they did."
WATCH: [All Kings vs. Flames highlights]
Jack Campbell made 42 saves for Los Angeles (28-39-8), which has won three in a row. The Kings have been eliminated from contention for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
"It doesn't matter where we are in the standings," Campbell said. "You can control what we have in front of us. We can't control what has happened this year up to this point; we have to keep it going. If we play like this, it'll be a fun (seven) games left."

Derek Forbort's point shot through traffic 57 seconds into the first period gave the Kings a 1-0 lead. It was Forbort's first goal in 45 games.
Flames goalie Mike Smith saved Anze Kopitar's one-timer at 16:10 of the second period, and Calgary defenseman Noah Hanifin hit the post with six seconds remaining.
"They didn't give us much the whole night," Flames forward Matthew Tkachuk said. "A lot of shots, not a ton of great chances. A couple posts. I think that they really buckled down in front of Campbell, and he made some good saves. [We] had some chances we could have put in, but I thought their goalie was good tonight."
Smith made a blocker save on Adrian Kempe's shorthanded breakaway 3:31 into the third period, but Jonny Brodzinski gave the Kings a 2-0 lead at 11:51 on a 2-on-1.
Tyler Toffoli scored an empty-net goal at 15:57 for the 3-0 final.
Smith made 17 saves.
"It's a great team. Tough building," Campbell said. "They have great fans here. It's a great environment. This is the fun time of the year.
"Obviously it [stinks] for us where we're at, but it's still fun to compete against teams that are getting ready for a run. Being in Canada, it's always fun playing hockey. It's a big win."

They said it

"They're where they're at in the standings for a reason. They're a deep team, they're a fast team, they play with structure. I thought we did a really good job tonight and we deserved the win. The shot clock didn't show as much of that, but at the end of the day we found a way to put more pucks in their net than they did in ours. We found a way to win and we'll take it."-- Kings defenseman Dion Phaneuf
"We just didn't get to their net enough. We didn't generate enough around their crease. We had a lot of shots, but their goalie seemed to be catching everything or keeping it in his jersey. It was one of those nights. It was tough to get to the net. They were boxing out and sealing out. I felt we had some zone time, but not enough quality chances." -- Flames defenseman Mark Giordano

Need to know

Campbell has two shutouts in his NHL career; each has come this season with Los Angeles. … Kings center Jeff Carter has three points (two goals, one assist) in a three-game point streak. … Los Angeles forward Ilya Kovalchuk is not with the team on its three-game Western Canada road trip; he stayed behind to work with the Kings skill and development staff. … Giordano had a seven-game point streak end. He had 10 points (two goals, eight assists).

What's next

Kings: At the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday (9 p.m. ET; SNW, KCOP-13, NHL.TV)
Flames: Host the Dallas Stars on Wednesday (9:30 p.m. ET; SN1, FS-SW, NHL.TV)