With a 5-4 victory over the visiting Colorado Avalanche on Saturday afternoon, LA coach Jim Hiller now has his Kings just two points away from securing home ice advantage in their upcoming first round playoff series.
Multi-point performances from Andrei Kuzmenko, Kevin Fiala, Quinton Byfield, and Alex Laferriere helped fuel LA’s offensive push during the matinee affair.
Byfield opened the scoring early once again; which is seemingly becoming a regular occurrence, as he’s now scored a goal in each of the past three games in less than five minutes from the opening faceoff. Fiala then extended the lead after finding the back of the net during a five-forward power play. Thia also tied his career high of 33 goals for a season.
Midway through the second period, Laferriere added his 18th goal of the season with a sharp one-timer, providing the Kings with a 3-2 lead. Before second intermission arrived, captain Anze Kopitar increased the advantage to 4-2. Later, Laferriere had some gritty board work and then set up Fiala for the game winner and a career-high 34th of the season.
With this win, the Kings magic number is down to two points for home ice advantage. They can clinch the Pacific Division’s No. 2 seed as early as Sunday night, if the Oilers lose against to the Jets in regulation.
Postgame Notes
— Laferriere set a career high for points in a game with three, recording one goal and two assists.
— Kuzmenko”a two assists gives him 12 points in his last seven games.
— Trevor Moore and Laferriere both have 18 goals this season. If either can add two more in the remaining three games, it would mark the first Kings team to have six 20-goal scorers since 1992-93.
Full highlights are available below.
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