The Los Angeles Kings significantly enhanced their postseason prospects Thursday evening, defeating the Vancouver Canucks 4-1 at home behind a stellar two-goal performance from Adrian Kempe and outstanding goaltending from Anton Forsberg, who turned away 24 of 25 shots.
Trevor Moore and Joel Armia also found the back of the net, while Artemi Panarin contributed two assists in the victory that propelled Los Angeles past Nashville in the battle for the Western Conference’s final wild-card playoff spot.
The triumph puts the Kings at 85 points with only four regular season contests remaining, giving them a slim one-point advantage over the Predators, who suffered a 4-1 defeat to Utah earlier Thursday. Los Angeles also holds a crucial game in hand over Nashville in the tight playoff race.
For Vancouver, defenseman Marcus Pettersson managed their lone goal while netminder Nikita Tolopilo recorded 22 saves in the loss, extending the Canucks’ losing streak to four games.
Los Angeles addressed recent concerns about slow starts by coming out aggressively against Vancouver, striking early when Kempe converted a one-timer through Tolopilo’s legs just 89 seconds into the contest, finishing off a feed from Brandt Clarke.
The Canucks drew even at 14:17 of the opening frame on a fortunate deflection when Pettersson’s wide slap shot caromed off Los Angeles defenseman Brian Dumoulin’s skate and found its way into the net.
However, the Kings quickly reclaimed their advantage just 91 seconds later following a neutral zone turnover forced by Jared Wright’s hit on Vancouver forward Jake DeBrusk. Scott Laughton advanced the puck into the attacking zone before setting up Armia, who beat Tolopilo glove-side to restore the lead.
Kempe doubled his tally and reached a team-high 34 goals for the season with just 29 seconds remaining in the middle period, deflecting Joel Edmundson’s pass while cutting through the slot area as Los Angeles capitalized on another Vancouver miscue in their defensive zone.
Los Angeles native Moore capped the scoring at 9:17 of the final period when a long-range shot deflected off Vancouver defenseman Elias Pettersson’s stick, then bounced off Moore’s shoulder before crossing the goal line to complete the 4-1 victory.
The two teams will face each other one final time during the regular season’s closing week, wrapping up their four-game series for the year.
