In Los Angeles, the visiting Calgary Flames scored twice in the third period off markers from Tyler Toffoli and Dillon Dube to tie their game with the Kings at 3-3, and force extra time on Thursday night.
The Kings’ Adrian Kempe hit for the game-winner with 98 seconds left in the extra session for a 4-3 win.
“Knew I had ‘Arvy’ *Viktor Arvidsson) with me for a 2-on-1,” Kempe said. “Obviously, I was expecting him to shoot, but I was staying back-post in case the puck ended up there, and Arvy made a great play back to me for an easy tap-in.”
Pheonix Copley made 27 saves in the LA win.
“There’s no doubt in our minds that we could come back,” Toffoli said. “It was just a matter of putting in the work and staying with it.”
The Kings improved to 19-12-5.
Calgary’s Jonathan Huberdeau and LA’s Gabriel Vilardi traded goals in the first period for a 1-1 tie.
“When we compare his four years with us now, when he wasn’t scoring he didn’t bring a lot to the table,” Kings coach Todd McLellan said. “Now, he is. It’s not just about scoring.”
Calgary dropped to 15-12-7.
“I think you always want more, but I think, at the same time, we battled back,” Toffoli said. “You try and look at the positives, but at the same time we had that little two-minute breakdown where they capitalized on their chances early, and from then on we were kind of fighting for it.”
The Kings took a 201 lead in the third on a strike by Phillip Danault at 1:29.
LA pushed the lead to 3-1 just 10 seconds later on a marker from Blake Lizotte.
“Calgary is a good team, they didn’t go away,” Lizotte said. “Good resiliency from our group, kind of letting them back in the game — and rightfully so, they made some good plays — but for us to kind of regroup and win that game in overtime is huge.”
LA’s Kevin Fiala missed on a penalty shot in the third.
Dan Vladar made 28 saves in the Flames loss.
You must be logged in to post a comment.