In Seattle, the Los Angeles Kings kept pace with the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday with a 3-1 win over the Kraken.
Pheonix Copley made 25 saves in the win.
The Kings moved to 44-22-10, and snapped a two-game skid.
“Down the stretch, they’re going to be tight games and they’re going to be hard-fought battles,” Copley said. “That’s how we wanted to play defensively. We were shutting things down, keeping it to the outside, and that was really good to see.”
Kevin Fiala had a goal and two points in the win, he returned to the lineup after missing a game for an undisclosed injury.
“When he gets on the ice, he forgets about it,” said Alex Iafallo. “It’s good to see him grind through that. He had a huge game for us. It doesn’t affect him, he’s still making plays and controlling the puck.”
After a scoreless first period, Sean Durzi scored for LA off a series f bounces and deflections of the puck.
“That was a lucky bounce, but sometimes you need those,” Iaffalo said. “Sometimes they don’t go your way, but you’ll take the ones that do.”
The Kings pushed the lead to 2-0 in the third when Carl Grundstrom at 5:22 off a steal.
“The bigger the stakes the more he seems to rise to the top,” Kings coach Todd McLellan said. “His physicality, his intensity and his shot are all real important attributes, and we saw all of those things.”
Seattle dropped to 41-26-8.
“It’s a real disappointing loss, but in saying that, this group knows what it takes,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. “In the first two periods, we didn’t win enough of those first pucks to give ourselves an offensive opportunity in the O-zone.”
Oliver Bjorkstrand scored at 8:25 of the third to trim the LA lead to 2-1.
Fiala scored into an empty net with 46 seconds left on the clock for the 3-1 final.
“It’s that time of year, and competitors do that and Kevin is a competitor,” McLellan said. “He’s fine. He’ll give us some really good minutes. He’s able to fight through it.”
Martin Jones made 16 saves in the Seattle loss.
“Both teams checked really well,” Jones said. “It’s that time of year, teams are ramping up for the playoffs, and there’s just not a lot of room out there. … Neither team was really able to break free and make a lot of plays offensively.”
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