Rookie Samuel Helenius scored twice and Alex Turcotte and Adrian Kempe had a goal and an assist apiece as the Los Angeles Kings held on to defeat the host Seattle Kraken 6-5 on Tuesday.
Alex Turcotte and Warren Foegele also tallied and Kevin Fiala and Vladislav Gavrikov had two assists apiece for the Kings (48-24-9, 105 points), who will wrap up the regular season Thursday against the visiting Calgary Flames. Los Angeles will then open the playoffs with a series against the Edmonton Oilers.
Kings goaltender David Rittich made 29 saves, including stopping a first-period penalty shot by Chandler Stephenson.
Tye Kartye, Brandon Montour, Jaden Schwartz, Matty Beniers and Eeli Tolvanen scored for the Kraken (35-41-6, 81 points), whose season came to an end. Joey Daccord stopped 18 of 24 shots.
The Kings broke a 2-2 tie at 16:05 of the second period. Foegele took a pass from Phillip Danault to the left side of the net and muscled a backhander inside the far post.
Los Angeles made it 4-2 at 17:17, as Daccord made a sprawling save on a shot by Fiala before Laferriere pounced on the rebound and chipped the puck over the prone goalie from the top of the crease.
Laferriere’s goal came just seconds after Seattle’s Mikey Eyssimont hit the left post with a lacrosse-style shot from behind the net.
Kempe scored on a wrist shot at 1:41 of the third, and Helenius capped the run of four consecutive goals at 2:38 to make it 6-2.
Schwartz scored his team-leading 26th goal for the Kraken at 5:12 and Beniers converted on a power play at 13:34. Tolvanen brought the deficit down to one at 19:30, but Seattle couldn’t equalize.
The Kings were outshot 11-5 in the first period but took a 2-0 lead.
Helenius opened the scoring at 15:14, redirecting a shot by Gavrikov past Daccord. Turcotte made in 2-0 on a power play at 16:23, tipping in Kempe’s shot.
The Kraken tied it at 2-2 in the second period. Kartye scored on a short-handed breakaway down the right wing at 5:26, and Montour tied it on a blast from the blue line with a man advantage at 13:24.
