Kings fail to move up in standings with loss to Canucks
Los Angeles Kings goalie Darcy Kuemper (35) and forward Trevor Moore (12) react as Vancouver Canucks forward Elias Pettersson (40) and forward Jake DeBrusk (74) celebrate DeBrusk’s game winning overtime goal at Rogers Arena. With the playoffs clinched, the last two games for the Los Angeles Kings are about positioning in the postseason. Tonight’s game may prove to be a missed opportunity.
Although the Kings got the majority of chances in the contest, they snapped a five-game winning streak with a 4-3 overtime loss to the last-place Vancouver Canucks. It is their NHL-leading 20th overtime loss of the season. The loss is made more painful by other results around the league tonight.
After the Anaheim Ducks lost in regulation, the Kings had a chance to move into the third-place standing in the Pacific Division. Instead, they remain in the Western Conference’s second wild-card spot, which would lead to a series against the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Colorado Avalanche. “Probably a little too flat for what we need,” defenseman Mikey Anderson said of the Kings’ performance.
“And you got to carry these games with you into the playoffs. So get a good reset tomorrow and try and have a good one to finish it off. ” While the Kings can still move out of that position and even gain home-ice advantage for the first round, they do not control their own destiny for either and must count on other teams to lose their final games in addition to winning their own season-ender.
“If we win [these] games, there’s a huge possibility we could be playing in front of our fans in game one and two, and that definitely gives us an advantage,” forward Alex Laferriere said. “So we want to do that. ” Depending on the results over the next two days, the Kings could play the Ducks, Avalanche, Vegas Golden Knights or Edmonton Oilers in the first round.