FINAL – Kings 4, Flames 1 – Kopitar, Arvidsson, Hiller

The LA Kings clinched their spot in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs as they skated to a 4-1 victory over the Calgary Flames on Thursday evenings at Crypto.com Arena.

The Kings scored the only goal from the first period, with forward Kevin Fiala cashing in on the man advantage for his 28th goal of the season. Moving the puck from right to left, forward Adrian Kempe hit forward Anze Kopitar in the slot, who dished it to Fiala in the left-hand circle. With forward Viktor Arvidsson providing the screen in front, Fiala picked his spot and beat Calgary netminder Jacob Markstrom for the goal and a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes of play.

Less than a minute into the second period, Arvidsson picked up a goal of his own to double the advantage. Off a well-executed cycle along the boards, Arvidsson picked the puck off the wall, worked his way into the right-hand circle and fired past Markstrom for his third goal of the season. Forwards Phillip Danault and Trevor Moore collected the assists on the play, as the Kings led 2-0.

Just shy of the game’s halfway mark, the Kings made it 3-0 as forward Akil Thomas scored for the third time in his last four games. Defenseman Matt Roy took a low shot from the right point, with Thomas providing the deflection from the slot, knocking the puck beyond Markstrom for the goal.

The Flames pulled back a goal in the third period, from forward Jonathan Huberdeau, to move to within 3-1. Huberdeau worked his way into the slot and got a deflection on a shot from defenseman Daniil Miromanov, re-directing it past Kings netminder Cam Talbot and in for his 12th goal of the season.

Arvidsson picked the empty net late in the third period for his second goal of the night and a 4-1 final score.

Hear from Kopitar, Arvidsson and Head Coach Jim Hiller following tonight’s win over Calgary.

Anze Kopitar

Kopi discusses the win and playoff clinch🎤@LAKings I #LAKingsLive pic.twitter.com/VF4ZHdcgY7

— Bally Sports West (@BallySportWest) April 12, 2024

Viktor Arvidsson
On the excitement of the team locking in a playoff berth
That was our goal when we started training camp, so one step at a time and we did a good job in the regular season to get to this point.

On if the message was any different tonight, after the loss in Anaheim on Tuesday
No, not really. I think we just had to stay focused on the task and just go out and do the work and I think we did that. We started the game good and continued that through.

On where he feels like his game is at here entering the playoffs
I feel like it’s been good. I’m bringing what I want to bring in, maybe a little bit inconsistently from shift to shift, but I think I create chances for and work hard and that’s kind of my game. I want to keep going with that.

On the areas he wants to see the Kings work on heading into the postseason
I think it’s the little things. In playoffs, it’s details, puck management, and we can talk about that all we want, but you’ve got to be ready to battle too. Every 50/50 puck, has to go your way that’s what’s important.

Jim Hiller
On the satisfaction in clinching a playoff berth
This is a group effort by everybody. It goes back, each season is a new season, it goes back to when we took off to Melbourne. Everybody who has been involved has been a part of the team reaching the playoffs. I think everybody should be proud of that, it’s a hard thing to do. More importantly, it’s an exciting thing to do because now you get to take the next step, we’ve earned the right to take the next step. There’s a lot of people that have do a lot of work behind the scenes everywhere, to help get the hockey team to the playoffs, so everybody should be proud of that.

On getting the right kind of performance tonight against Calgary, after losing twice in Alberta
We talked this morning and they did some things very well in those two games and we were not able to handle them, so I thought we adjusted better to that tonight for sure, against that specific opponent. We played a pretty good game, got a little hairy at the end there for whatever reason, but we played a pretty good game start to finish. We had opportunities to probably put the game away and we didn’t do that, so it got tight and we had to earn our way.

On the continued strong performances of Akil Thomas
Yeah, it’s great to see the puck go in for anybody, we were all excited for him for his first NHL goal and now to get three in his first five games, I don’t know if that’s going to keep up necessarily but it’s what he’s doing beyond that. He’s earning the coaches’ trust, he goes out there, he works, he takes the body, he understands the game really well. To see him score goals is really a bonus, but we’ll take them for sure.

On the belief in this team’s ability to bounce back from poor performances
Our team, we’ve had some poor games, some games we’ve been angry with, but I will tell you this – I don’t think it’s been two in a row and that’s a real credit to the team. Even us, the coaches, we talked after the Anaheim game and we were disappointed, but we said you know what, we’re going to come back and play the next game. We know that about our players. We trust them, we believe in them, and they haven’t let us down.

On Viktor Arvidsson’s impact tonight, both scoring and providing a screen on the PP
A great screen and he’s a shooter too. So he’s a double, triple threat, because he can pass, shoot and he’s not afraid to get in front of the goaltender as you saw tonight. I don’t think he got an assist on that play but that was just as valuable as anything else in that sequence on the goal.

Notes –
– Kevin Fiala (1-0=1) scored his 28th goal of the season, extending his point streak against the Calgary Flames to a third game (2-3=5) dating back to Feb. 27, 2024, and extending his home goal scoring streak to a third game (3-2=5) dating back to April 3, 2024. Fiala’s 11th power-play goal of the season marked his team-leading 30th power-play point (11-19=30) of the campaign to become the first Kings skater to reach such mark since Anže Kopitar (14-24=38) and Drew Doughty (9-22=31) in the 2009-10 campaign.
– Viktor Arvidsson (2-0=2) scored his third and fourth goals of the season for his first multi-goal effort of the campaign, giving him points in each of his last three home games against the Flames (3-2=5). The pair of goals marked Arvidsson’s 10th and 11th points (4-7=11) of the season, his third-such season in a Kings uniform scoring 10 or more points, becoming the fourth Swedish-born skater in franchise history to record three or more 10-point seasons behind Carl Grundstrom (3), Mattias Norström (7) and Adrian Kempe (7).
– Akil Thomas (1-0=1) scored his third career NHL goal in his fifth career game. In doing so, Thomas is the fifth different skater in Kings history to score at least three goals within the first five games of his career, and the first to do so since Brian Boyle (3-1=4 in 5GP) from Feb. 2-10, 2008.
– Anže Kopitar (0-2=2) picked up his 43rd and 44th assists of the season, passing teammate Kevin Fiala (43A) for the second-most assists by a Kings skater this campaign. He also passes Detroit’s Patrick Kane (25-34=59) for sole possession of the second-most points scored against the Flames by an active skater (21-39=60). Kopitar’s pair of assists marked his 69th and 70th points this season (26-44=70), the ninth 70-point season of his career. Only Luc Robitaille (11) and Marcel Dionne (12) have more such seasons in Kings history. Kopitar is the third Kings skater this season to reach the 70-point plateau, joining Adrian Kempe (27-45=72) and Kevin Fiala (28-27=71). This marks the first time the Kings have had three or more skaters reach 70 points in the same season since 1993-94.
– Adrian Kempe (0-1=1) notched his team-leading 45th helper of the season, extending his assist streak against the Flames to a third game (1-3=4).
– Trevor Moore (0-1=1) registered his 25th assist of the season, extending his home point streak to a seventh game (6-5=13). Moore’s helper pushed him to the quarter-century mark for just the second time of his career (31A in 2021-22).
– Philip Danault (0-1=1) tallied his 27th assist of the season. With the assist, he ties Eric Belanger (87) for the ninth-most assists by a Quebec-born skater in LA Kings history.
– Drew Doughty (0-1=1) notched his 34th assist of the season for his 27th career assist against the Flames. Only Rob Blake (39A) has more career assists against Calgary among Kings blueliners.
– Matt Roy (0-1=1) picked up his 20th assist of the season to hit the 20-assist mark for the first time in his career. Roy’s 24 points (4-20=24) are the second-most by a Kings blueliner this season behind only Doughty (15-34=49).
– Cam Talbot turned aside 22 of 23 shots to secure his 26th win of the season and improved his record to 26-19-6.
The Kings extended their home winning streak to seven games, the longest such run since the 2012-13 campaign (7-0-0; Apr. 4-27, 2013).
– With tonight’s victory, the Kings officially clinched a berth in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The berth marks the team’s third consecutive trip to the Stanley Cup Playoffs and 33rd qualification in franchise history.

The Kings have a scheduled team off day tomorrow and will return to the ice on Saturday, April 13 for a morning skate before taking on the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday evening at Crypto.com Arena.

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