Los Angeles Kings looks to set a new franchise record for victories and expand their winning line to five matches when they finish the regular season hosting Calgary Flames on Thursday evening.
Kings (48-24-9, 105 points) is the second seed in the Pacific Division on the way into the Stanley Cup playoffs and will have a home-ice benefit against its Division Rival Edmonton Oilers in the first round.
Los Angeles put in a short two-game with a 6-5 victory over the Craken in Seattle on Tuesday evening and matched the Franchise record for victories during a season (48) set during the 2015-16 season.
“I like the victory,” said Kings coach Jim Hiller. “This was a difficult back-to-back. We had some important players from the lineup, that meant nothing to us in the position, as far as movement, and we won the hockey game. That’s what I like with the winnings.”
Samuel Helenius scored twice, and Adrian Kempe scored a goal and an assist when Kings improved to 8-2-0 in the last 10. Alex Laferriere, Alex Turcotte and Warren Foegele also scored, while Kevin Fiala and Vladislav Gavrikov contributed two assists each in Victory.
David Rittich made 29 rescues to improve to 16-13-2 with a .889 Savings percentage and 2.77 goals-on average in 33 matches this season.
In 50 matches, Starter Darcy Kuemper is 31-11-7 with a .922 Savings percentage and a 2.02 GAA.
Kempe goes with Kings with 73 points in 81 matches and shares the team’s goal -aiming lead (35) with fiala.
The flames go to Los Angeles who want to complete a sweep of the season series against the kings. Calgary has won both meetings between the two clubs this season-3-1 on November 11 and 2-1 on January 11.
Calgary (40-27-14, 94 points) is eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs (40-27-14, 94 points) has won three straight and is 6-1-3 in the last 10.
On Tuesday, Flames opened a three-game home with a 5-4 shooting game over Vegas Golden Knights.
Morgan Frost made twice, including the shootout winner, and Nazem Kadri added a goal and an assist for Flames, which was officially eliminated from the playoffs despite the victory.
Mikael Backlund and Adam Klapka also did, while Matt Coronato added a couple of helpers.
“At the beginning of the year no one believed in us,” Backlund said. “We believed in ourselves from day 1 from training camp. Right away we got the feeling that everyone bought and believed and when everyone buys and believes you can achieve some big things.
“Unfortunately we did not come to the playoffs, but we fought all the way to the end. We were so resilient all year and it says a lot about this group. We played for each other all year.”
Dustin Wolf made 38 rescues to improve to 29-16-8 by a .910 Savings percentage and a 2.64 GAA in 53 starts this season.
With the two helpers, Coronato has seven points (four goals, three assists) during a six-game point. Kadri’s team -leading 33 goals is a career that is best for the flames forward.
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