Vilardi helps Kings defeat Kraken for fifth straight win

SEATTLE -- Gabriel Vilardi had a goal and two assists for the Los Angeles Kings in a 5-3 win against the Seattle Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena on Wednesday.

"Our line played well," Vilardi said. "I think all the lines played a lot and buried chances. All our lines got a score tonight, so it was nice that we buried our chances. … They came out better than us in the first period. We weren't very hard to play against and they took advantage of us and 'Quickie' made some saves, that's what he does, and gave us a chance to come back."
Phillip Danault scored his sixth goal in the past seven games, and Jonathan Quick made 37 saves for the Kings (44-27-10), who have won five straight.

Jared McCann scored his 27th goal, Jordan Eberle and Ryan Donato each had a goal and an assist, and Philipp Grubauer made 23 saves for the Kraken (26-48-6), who lost their fourth straight.
McCann gave the Kraken a lead 1-0 at 18:59 of the first period on a one-timer from the left circle after a Yanni Gourde pass from the corner. The Kraken outshot the Kings 12-2 in the period.
"I don't think we should have put ourselves in that situation," Los Angeles coach Todd McLellan said. "I didn't think we played with any purpose that matters. We played because the game was scheduled, and that was really it. We weren't getting any better. We were forming bad habits and we had to talk about it between the first and second, and then after that I thought we began to play with purpose.
"[The Kraken] play a heavy, hard game, tough team to play against. They tested a lot of our players that needed testing that haven't played for a long time or been injured. And a lot of our guys needed that."
Donato made it 2-0 at 2:24 of the second period when he skated right to left in front of the net and scored when Quick went down.
"When you score goals, sometimes you think it's going to be an easy night," Donato said. "Not pointing fingers at anybody, but the whole team. You take a couple of shifts off and those come right back in your net. So for us, we're not good enough to take shifts off. We've got to make sure we're attentive every time, and we weren't."

Vilardi cut it to 2-1 at 10:11 on a shot from the slot off a pass from Blake Lizotte.
Danault tied the game 2-2 at 13:41 when Viktor Arvidsson won a race down the ice and passed the puck back to Danault.
Eberle gave Seattle a 3-2 lead at 14:29 when he stick-handled through the defense and scored with a wrist shot.
Trevor Moore tied it 3-3 at 17:15 when he tipped a pass from Matt Roy.
Lias Andersson gave Los Angeles a 4-3 lead at 2:39 of the third period when Brendan Lemieux passed to him from the end boards. It was Andersson's first goal of the season.
"Maybe if we take one or two less shifts where we're not as into it, it's a different ballgame," Donato said. "I think there's just too many times where we score and we feel good about ourselves, and it comes back in our net. I think the blame is on all of us."

Sean Durzi appeared to score 16 seconds later but Seattle successfully challenged for goaltender interference.
Andreas Athanasiou scored into an empty net at 18:54 for the 5-3 final.
"I would have been really disappointed if we had not responded, because it was expected of them," McLellan said. "They've done that for seven months now, so sometimes you just need to be reminded of the importance of situations. They took it to heart, and they did something about it."
NOTES:The Kings scratched a number of veteran players a day after clinching a playoff spot, including defensemen Alexander Edler and Olli Maatta, and forwards Adrian Kempe, Dustin Brown, Alex Iafallo, and Anze Kopitar. Kopitar had his streak of playing in 281 consecutive games end. The streak began Oct. 20, 2018. … Vilardi played 14:58 in his first game since April 13, and Andersson had a game-high five shots in 9:38 in his first game since April 4. … Kings Defenseman Tobias Bjornfot played 18:48 in his first game since April 10, and defenseman Mikey Anderson had an assist and four hits in a game-high 24:27 after missing 22 games with an upper-body injury. … Kraken forward Matty Beniers had an assist and has a point in seven of his eight NHL games (seven points; three goals, four assists). … The Kings won the season series 3-1-0.