Moore scores hat trick, Kings defeat Kraken to gain in wild card

LOS ANGELES -- Trevor Moore scored a hat trick for the Los Angeles Kings in a 5-2 win against the Seattle Kraken at Crypto.com Arena on Wednesday.

It was Moore’s second NHL hat trick and his first since Nov. 16, 2022.

“We got to get rolling here and got to get hot going into playoffs,” Moore said. “You know the hottest team going into the playoffs can be dangerous, and we want to be that team.”

Pierre-Luc Dubois had three assists, and Kevin Fiala had a goal and an assist for the Kings (39-25-11), who ended a three-game losing streak. Viktor Arvidsson had two assists, and Cam Talbot made 21 saves.

Los Angeles pulled within one point of the Nashville Predators for the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. The Kings also moved five points ahead of the St. Louis Blues for the second wild card.

The Kraken (31-31-13) were eliminated from playoff contention. Andre Burakovsky scored, and Philipp Grubauer made 22 saves.

“We’re playing for other things here,” Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said. “We’re disappointed with the outcome today. We left some of our effort on the table. Again, I don’t think our effort was poor, but we left too much in the tank here today.”

Adrian Kempe gave Los Angeles a 1-0 lead at 9:24 of the first period, chipping in a pass from Arvidsson in the slot on a power play.

Moore made it 2-0 at 7:39 of the second period by getting to the low slot and tipping in Matt Roy’s pass.

Moore then extended it to 3-0 at 11:49 when he skated in and buried his own rebound into an open net with his backhand.

“The thing for ‘Mooresy’ is we didn’t think he was shooting enough lately,” Kings interim coach Jim Hiller said. “In Winnipeg (on Monday), he passed up some chances, never mind the breakaway. Tonight, he had a little bit more of a shot mentality, a little more direct. Great to see him rewarded like that.”

Burakovsky cut it to 3-1 at 5:40 of the third period, taking a pass from Oliver Bjorkstrand and scoring with a backhand at the right post during a four-minute power play.

Fiala put Los Angeles ahead 4-1 at 10:45 on a breakaway.

Brian Dumoulin cut it to 4-2 at 11:20 with a wrist shot from the left circle.

“Whenever you play a team like L.A., you can’t give them anything easy, and we did that tonight,” Dumoulin said. “They didn’t have to work for their chances, and they capitalized on the opportunities that they got.”

Moore completed the hat trick on a breakaway at 16:57 for the 5-2 final. Dubois had an assist on each of his three goals.

“It’s the coolest thing ever,” Moore said of scoring the hat trick. “They got to two, right, and then it was just about winning the game. ‘Dubie’ made a great battle on the wall against three guys and got the puck, and it worked out.”