Quinton Byfield tallied twice as the Los Angeles Kings clinched a Western Conference playoff berth with a 5-3 victory against the host Seattle Kraken on Monday night.
Trevor Moore and Alex Laferriere each had a goal and an assist, Adrian Kempe also scored and goaltender Anton Forsberg made 28 saves for the Kings (35-26-19, 89 points), who have won a season-high five games in a row. Los Angeles, which could still finish among the top three in the Pacific Division or in a wild-card spot, has regular-season games remaining Tuesday in Vancouver and Thursday at Calgary.
Adam Larsson, Frederick Gaudreau and Bobby McMann scored and Matty Beniers had two assists for the Kraken (34-35-11, 79 points), who had a two-game winning streak snapped. Rookie goalie Nikke Kokko, making just his second NHL start with Joey Daccord and Philipp Grubauer nursing lower-body injuries and Matt Murray away from the team to deal with family matters, stopped 25 of 29 shots.
Byfield’s speed led to a pair of unassisted goals in the first period.
On the first, Seattle’s Jordan Eberle won a faceoff in the offensive zone back toward Ryan Lindgren at the left point, but Byfield got to the puck first and banked it off the boards to get past Lindgren and start a 2-on-1 rush. Byfield skated down the ice before taking a wrist shot from just inside the faceoff dot that found the roof of the net at 2:43.
Byfield scored again at 13:19. Eberle’s pass back to Lindgren at the point bounced over the defenseman’s stick, giving Byfield a breakaway down the right wing. He faked as if he would go across the top of the crease before chipping a forehand shot over Kokko’s catching glove.
The Kings extended their lead to 3-0 at 7:13 of the second as Laferriere’s shot from the left faceoff circle took a lively kick off the end boards and came back to Moore, who converted a wrist shot from the slot.
The Kraken rallied in the third period.
Larsson scored on a wrister from the left point past a screened Forsberg at 1:53, spoiling the goalie’s bid for a second straight shutout.
Gaudreau made it 3-2 at 8:08, taking a pass from Kaapo Kakko and slamming the puck into the net from just outside the left post.
The Kings made it 4-2 as Kempe took a pass from Anze Kopitar on a 2-on-1 rush and scored on a snap shot at 12:29. It was Kempe’s team-leading 35th goal of the season.
With Kokko pulled for an extra attacker, McMann scored on a wrister from the slot at 17:33 to make it a one-goal game.
Laferriere scored an empty-netter at 19:58 to clinch the victory.
–Field Level Media
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