The Kings officially clinched a berth to the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs on Thursday night with a 4-1 defeat over the Calgary Flames. The victory also earns the Kings a third consecutive playoff appearance and their 33rd playoff appearance in franchise history. Yet to be determined is the Kings first round playoff opponent as the final three games of the regular season will soon decide that.
As for how the Kings earned the win on Thursday, a strong bounce back performance from the team and a solid night in net front Cam Talbot was plenty to defeat the Flames. The Kings netted the first goal for the fifth consecutive game at the 6:48 mark of the first period. Following a mental error by Flames defenseman Daniil Miromanov who committed a penalty for closing his hand on the puck, it was Kevin Fiala who buried his team-leading 11th power-play goal and 30th power-play point (11-19=30) with a wrist shot. Unlike Tuesday's game against the Ducks, Kings would carry that lead into the first intermission.
The second period was also all Kings on the scoresheet. Beginning with a Viktor Arvidsson goal just 54 seconds into the period, the Swedish winger netted his third goal of the season with the help of his linemates Trevor Moore and Phillip Danault each earning assists. Not even seven minutes later, Akil Thomas deflected in a Matt Roy point shot for his third career goal in just his fifth career game.
Leading 3-0 entering the final the third period, the Flames got on the board with Johnathan Huberdeau’s 12th goal of the season 8:28 in. The Kings locked down the defensive zone for the rest of regulation and Arvidsson extended the lead to 4-1 with an empty net goal.
Talbot stopped 22 of 23 shots and earned his 26th win of the season.
