Kings clinch playoff berth for 5th consecutive season, defeat Kraken 5-3

SEATTLE – For the fifth straight season, the Los Angeles Kings are headed to the Stanley Cup Playoffs after defeating the Seattle Kraken 5-3 at Climate Pledge Arena on Monday.

Coming into the day, Los Angeles needed a win in the Pacific Northwest and a regulation loss to the Nashville Predators to secure a playoff spot. The San Jose Sharks, behind a two-goal night from Macklin Celebrini, ended a 15-game losing streak against the Predators and ended Nashville’s playoff hopes.

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During a roller coaster season marked by a mid-season coaching change, an NHL record number of overtime games and captain Anze Kopitar’s final campaign, Los Angeles silenced the noise and clinched a playoff spot in the Western Conference.

The playoff appearance will mark the 11th and final Stanley Cup playoff appearance for Kopitar, who is expected to retire after 20 seasons in Los Angeles. The 38-year-old is the all-time leading scorer in Kings franchise history with 452 goals and 862 assists during his illustrious career.

With the win, Los Angeles pushed its winning streak to five games – the longest of the season. LA earned its sixth straight victory by scoring first and improved to 28-6-7 on the season by scoring first. The Kings also improved to 25-2-0 this season while leading after two periods.

Quinton Byfield scored his 21st and 22nd goals of the season in the first period, marking his fifth straight road game with multiple points. The 23-year-old is just one goal away from matching his career high (23) set last season. Byfield joins Luc Robitaille (1992-93) as the only Kings skater to win five consecutive multi-point road games in a single season.

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With the first two injured and the third unavailable, Seattle turned to its fourth goalie, Nikke Kokko, who made his third career appearance and second start of the season. The 22-year-old Finn earned his first win in Seattle’s 4-1 win over Calgary on Saturday and stopped 25 of 29 shots in Monday’s loss to Los Angeles.

Anton Forsberg made his fourth consecutive start in Los Angeles and earned his 16th victory of the season. After shutting down Seattle in the first two periods, the Kraken put three shots in the back of the net in the final frame and provided an intense finish.

After Seattle responded with back-to-back third-period goals to cut the deficit to one, Anze Kopitar fed Adrian Kempe on a two-on-one rush and doubled Los Angeles’ lead. The score marks Kempe’s 35th team goal of the season and gives the Los Angeles right winger his 13th point in his last nine games.

Alex Laferrière scored his 20th goal of the season into an empty net with 1.3 seconds left to slam the door on a fifth consecutive victory for Los Angeles.

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Remarkably, the Kings had a 6% chance of making the playoffs on March 6 with a record of 25-22-14 in 61 games. They will now have the chance to win a playoff series for the first time in 12 years since their Stanley Cup victory over the New York Rangers in 2014.

Los Angeles improved to 20-9-10 away from Crypto.com Arena and has collected 50 of its 89 points on the road this season.

With two games left in the regular season, Los Angeles will have a chance to move out of the eighth seed with wins over Vancouver and Calgary with help from across the Pacific Division.

Puck drop for Tuesday’s game against Vancouver is scheduled for 7 p.m.