Kempe's two-goal night puts Kings back in playoff position
Led by two goals from Adrian Kempe, the Kings defeated the Vancouver Canucks 4-1 for a win which put Los Angeles back in the Western Conference’s second wild-card spot.
Los Angeles Kings celebrate after a goal by right wing Adrian Kempe (9) a goal in the second period against the Vancouver Canucks at Crypto. com Arena. Going up against the NHL’s last-place team, the Los Angeles Kings needed to win, not only to move into playoff position but to prove they could take care of business.
They checked both boxes. Led by two goals from Adrian Kempe, the Kings defeated the Vancouver Canucks 4-1, a win which, combined with other results around the league tonight, put Los Angeles back in the Western Conference’s second wild-card spot. <span class="fr-mk" style="display: none;"> </span> “I have a lot of respect for Vancouver,” Kempe said.
“Obviously they’re not in the playoff race, but they also don’t have any pressure on them. So they can be tough games. I’ve been on the other side of it, where you go out there, and some games you play really well, and you can beat some really good teams.
Tough games, but I think we executed pretty well tonight throughout the 60 minutes. ” Kempe’s goals came in very different contexts in the flow of the game, scoring the first just 89 seconds into the first period. “That's something that we’ve been talking about, that maybe over the last couple of weeks, we haven't had as [many] good starts,” Kempe said.