SEATTLE -- The Los Angeles Kings came up with a road win against the Seattle Kraken 6-5 in a two-goal game from center Samuel Helenius.
With the win on Tuesday night, Los Angeles ties the franchise record for the most points (105) and wins (48) in a season with one more game to play.
To start the game, center Chandler Stephenson was awarded a penalty shot. He moved from the far left wall across the middle and took a shot, which was gloved down by Kings netminder Dave Rittich to keep the game scoreless.
The first goal of the night came from Helenius to put the Kings on the board late in the first period. On a three-on-two break, defenseman Jordan Spence dropped a pass back to defensive pairing Vladislav Gavrikov, who took a shot from the top of the circle that was tipped in front of the cage by Helenius.
The Kings would hop right back onto the scoring sheet a minute later, thanks to center Alex Turcotte. On the powerplay, Los Angeles was moving the puck well before winger Kevin Fiala cut down the middle of the offensive zone and pitched it out to winger Adrian Kempe. The Swede then fired a pass on the far post to Turcotte for his ninth goal of the year to put Los Angeles up 2-0. With Kempe marked on the primary assist, he garnered the 400th point of his career.
To start the second period, Seattle would score a shorthanded goal from fourth-line winger Tye Kartye. After L.A. failed to pinch the blueline successfully, Kartye poked a puck down the ice and found himself on a breakaway, which he buried low glove on Rittich to bring the game back within one.
Just past halfway through the second period, the Kraken would score once more to knot the game at two. It would be defenseman Brandon Montour who took a howitzer of a shot from the point after a pass from winger Andre Burakovski.
Los Angeles would respond with two goals of their own, yet again within two minutes of each other, to bring the lead back up to two for the Kings.
The first goal came from winger Warren Foegele just three minutes after the Montour goal. Foegele grabbed a loose puck behind the cage, last touched by center Phillip Danault, and wrapped it around the cage with his backhand, sliding it in between the legs of Seattle goaltender Joey Daccord. Gavrikov would grab the secondary assist, marking his second career 30-point season.
The next goal would come from center Alex Laferriere, who typically plays winger for the L.A. squad. On a two-on-one, Fiala was initially stuffed by the pad of Daccord, but Laferriere hit home the rebound to push the score to 4-2 in Los Angeles’ favor. Laferriere now has seven points in his last six games played. With the assist, Fiala marked his fourth straight multi-point game, an output that the Kings love to see heading into the postseason. Winger Jeff Malott would also get his first career point with the secondary assist in his 12th career NHL game.
The Kings would keep their foot on the gas with two more goals coming out of the locker room for the third period. The frame started, though, with a massive left pad save from Rittich sliding across the crease, keeping the Kings up two goals.
Shortly after, Kempe would light the lamp for his 35th goal on the season, with the assists coming from Turcotte and winger Andrei Kuzmenko. In a great passing play, Kuzmenko would pass in the mid-slot to Turcotte, who fed Kempe down low next to the pipe to make the score 5-2 L.A. This was Kuzmenko’s 13th point in the last nine games; another player who has seemed to have infinite output offensively for the Kings.
Less than a minute later, Los Angeles would score their final goal of the game to make the score 6-2. Helenius would snag his second goal of the game, which is his first multi-goal and multi-point game of his career and also marking his fourth goal in the league. A shot from the point from Jacob Moverare was saved by Daccord, but Helenius smacked home the rebound for L.A.
The Kraken would then go on a three-goal tear to almost tie the game back up but would fall just a goal short from the white-hot Kings.
The first goal on the run would come from winger Jaden Schwartz. A great feed from defenseman Jamie Oleksiak from the left wall to Schwartz in front of the goal led to an easy one-timer to make the score 6-3.
Center Matty Beniers scored next for the Kraken on the powerplay to make the score 6-4. A great passing sequence ended when winger Jordan Eberle fed a cross-crease pass to a driving Beniers for his 20th goal of the campaign.
The comeback would end with the final goal coming with 30 seconds on the game clock while the Kraken were on the powerplay. Winger Eeli Tolvanen knocked in his 23rd goal of the season after a one-touched pass from center Shane Wright at the goal line. The Kraken could not come up with another goal and would fall short 6-5.
Los Angeles has one final game in the season against the Calgary Flames on Thursday at 6:30 p.m.