Kings clinch playoff berth with win against Kraken

SEATTLE -- The Los Angeles Kings clinched a berth into the Stanley Cup Playoffs with a 5-3 victory against the Seattle Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena on Monday.

The Kings clinched with their win and a 3-2 loss by the Nashville Predators to the San Jose Sharks. Los Angeles currently holds the second wild card from the Western Conference, one point behind the Utah Mammoth, who hold the first wild card, and one point behind the Anaheim Ducks, who are third in the Pacific Division.

“It’s been a climb, for sure, and it probably didn’t look very good a while ago,” Los Angeles interim coach D.J. Smith said. “Credit to the guys and the leadership. … They’ve played playoff hockey for a while now. It’s allowed us this opportunity. We’ll see what happens now the rest of the way, and maybe we can climb another spot.”

Quinton Byfield scored twice, Trevor Moore and Alex Laferriere each had a goal and an assist, Adrian Kempe scored, and Anton Forsberg made 28 saves for the Kings (35-26-19), who have won five in a row.

Adam Larsson, Frederick Gaudreau and Bobby McMann scored, and Matty Beniers had two assists for the Kraken (34-35-11), who had won two straight. Nikke Kokko made 25 saves after winning his first NHL start, 4-1 against the Calgary Flames, on Saturday.

“A couple of bounces over our sticks, and Byfield made us pay,” Seattle coach Lane Lambert said. “Certainly our game management at times in the second period wasn’t great. … But I thought we generated some chances, some opportunities, and I wasn’t unhappy with the way we were playing, I just didn’t like the scoreboard.”

Byfield made it 1-0 off a 2-on-1 rush with Moore at 2:43 of the first period. After an offensive zone face-off, Byfield poked the puck past Seattle defenseman Ryan Lindgren at the blue line and raced up ice before putting a wrist shot under the crossbar from the top of the right circle.

“I just kind of got a good jump off the face-off,” Byfield said. "It's one of those plays where it's kind of in between, and (Seattle defenseman kind of stepped up (in the slot) there and I just tipped it by him. I just wanted to create a 2-on-1, slowed up, me and ‘Mooresy’ were there. I was looking to pass, but kind of didn't see him, so I shot that.”

Byfield then made it 2-0 at 13:19 after Seattle forward Jordan Eberle’s pass intended for Lindgren at the Los Angeles blue line hopped over Lindgren’s stick. Skating in on a breakaway, Byfield deked to his left and chipped back to his right to put the puck under Kokko’s glove.

“'Q’s' line, in general, had been good for a long time, playing against other teams’ top lines,” Smith said, "and tonight, they go off, so it’s been a lot of good performances.”

Moore pushed it to 3-0 at 7:13 of the second period. Laferriere’s snap shot from the top of the slot missed the net but bounced off the end boards to Moore in the left circle, where he shot it over Kokko’s glove.

“Good bounce,” Moore said. “I mean, ‘Laf’ was just skating up there, made a good move, ripped it, lively boards. It popped all the way out there, and I just got some good wood on it.”

Larsson cut the deficit to 3-1 at 1:53 of the third period, taking a feed from Beniers at the point and sending a wrist shot through traffic and inside the left post.

Gaudreau got Seattle to within 3-2 at 8:08. Ryan Winterton forced a turnover behind the net to Kaapo Kakko, who made a cross-crease pass to Gaudreau at the left post for a tap-in goal.

“I like to play with him,” Kakko said of Gaudreau. “I mean, I feel like we kind of think the same on the ice. I already know where he is, and he knows where I am.”

Kempe responded off a 2-on-1 with Anze Kopitar at 12:29, snapping the captain's feed through Kokko’s five-hole from the right circle to make it 4-2.

“It was dicey there for a while,” Moore said. “Really proud of our group for sticking together, and believing in ourselves and going on this run.”

With Kokko pulled for the extra skater, McMann cut it again to 4-3 at 17:33, taking Beniers’ low-to-high pass in the right circle and snapping a shot past Forsberg’s blocker.

Laferriere added an empty-net goal at 19:58 on the power play for the 5-3 final.

After the game, the Kraken lined up to shake Kopitar’s hand and congratulate him on his 20-season NHL career. This was his final game against Seattle before he retires at the end of the season.

“It doesn't feel real sometimes,” Moore said. “I was a Kings fan growing up, and it doesn't feel real to be able to see him go through all this. … Feels like you're part of history in a way.”

NOTES: Los Angeles also entered the 2012 postseason as the conference’s lowest seed en route to a Stanley Cup championship. The Kings are one of five franchises in NHL history to advance to the Stanley Cup Final after entering the playoff year as the lowest seed, alongside the 2023 Florida Panthers (4-1 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights), 2021 Montreal Canadiens (4-1 loss  to the Tampa Bay Lightning), 2017 Nashville Predators (4-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins) and 2006 Edmonton Oilers (4-3 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes).