Kings edge Blackhawks in season finale, will face Oilers in playoffs again – Orange County Register

LOS ANGELES — The Kings narrowly avoided a matchup with top-seeded Dallas by reaching overtime, where they won 5-4 against the lowly Chicago Blackhawks in Thursday night’s regular-season finale at the Crypto.com Arena.

About four hours northeast of the arena, the rival Ducks contributed to the Kings’ modest last-minute rise in the standings, defeating the defending champion Vegas Golden Knights, 4-1. Vegas had gone 14-6-2 against the other seven Western Conference playoff teams – the Kings were 8-12-3 – but lost three of four matchups against the rebuilding Ducks, the all for several purposes.

This meant the Kings needed just one point to reach third place in the Pacific Division and travel to Edmonton to begin the playoffs against the Oilers for a third straight season.

They made it two when Adrian Kempe scored his 28th goal of the season from the right faceoff dot, unassisted, just six seconds into overtime.

He and the Kings offense bailed out goaltender Cam Talbot on a night when he allowed four goals on a measly 13 shots. Kempe added an assist to match contributions from Quinton Byfield and Trevor Moore. Viktor Arvidsson and Phillip Danault each had three-point nights, with Arvidsson scoring twice.

The first game of the Kings’ first-round series will be Monday at 7 p.m. in Edmonton.

Ryan Donato had a goal and an assist for Chicago. Joey Anderson, Tyler Johnson and Lukas Reichel also scored for Chicago, which scored three goals in the third period to take the lead. Arvid Söderblom made 31 saves.

Kempe’s individual effort was backed by a late power play goal from Arvidsson, who stepped into the slot to receive the puck from Byfield, who earned his second contract bonus of the night for his 35th assist. that Arvidsson shot the puck through his compatriot Söderblom.

Just 88 seconds into the third period, Chicago cut its deficit in half and just 2:14 later the visitors erased it completely before taking their second lead of the evening at 6:28 .

Pressure from Jaycob Megna’s forecheck allowed Chicago to get the puck back and MacKenzie Entwhistle fired the puck toward the front of the net, where it was deflected home by Donato.

Landon Slaggert harassed Anze Kopitar into a turnover, then fed the puck to Anderson, the brother of the Kings’ Mikey Anderson. He showed no brotherly love as he switched from forehand to backhand to slip the puck past Talbot.

The Blackhawks got the ball rolling in the final third on the power play. With all four of the Kings’ penalty killers on the left side of the ice, a simple overthrow to Johnson near the right point allowed him to slide forward into the faceoff circle for a shot inside the second post.

After entering the first intermission, the Kings scored three goals in the second period to tip the game in their favor.

Moore made it 3-1 with 2:36 left after Jarred Tinordi went down in a heap and a pile of trouble behind his own net. Danault pounced, quickly moving the puck past Arvidsson, who fed it to Moore for his team-high 31st goal of the season.

The Kings got their first lead of the night and Byfield got his first point in 10 games and his first goal in 20. The goal earned him a $212,500 bonus, as it was his 20th of the season. On a power play, Danault fired the puck from outside the left circle to the far post, where Byfield was in position on Seth Jones for a redirect count.

Chicago appeared to regain the lead with 7:45 on the clock, but Jason Dickson’s potential shorthanded goal was overturned upon review after it was determined he had redirected the puck with a kicking motion distinct.

The Kings even tied it 4:37 into the second period. Trevor Moore took the puck from the offensive blue line to below the goal line, where Danault took it down after knocking the stick out of Dickinson’s hands. Danault got around the back of the net and slipped into the slot, where he found Arvidsson for a one-timer under the left faceoff dot that hit Söderblom before going through him. It was a Swede crime and Arvidsson’s fifth goal in an injury-plagued campaign.

After taking an 11-3 advantage in shots on goal, the Kings still conceded the first score of the evening when the lead feet turned into flat feet for the unusual defensive duo composed of Andreas Englund and Jacob Moverare. The Kings won a faceoff but moved the puck, at which point Reichel rushed forward, threw the puck between the two heavy defenders and separated them to go on a breakaway which he finished with a little hesitation before putting the puck away on his backhand. .

More to come on this story.