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The Los Angeles Kings played their final game of the regular season last night, defeating the Anaheim Ducks 5-3 and finishing third in the Pacific Division.

The Kings fell behind early against Anaheim, but a goal late in the opening frame from Anze Kopitar tied things up through 20 minutes. Then midway through the second period, two quick goals in the span of only a minute from Adrian Kempe and Trevor Moore put the Kings firmly ahead. The teams went back-and-forth a bit in the third period exchanging goals and Anaheim did make a game of it, pulling back to within one on two different occasions, but an empty netter secured a hat trick for Kempe and a win for the Kings.

While the Kings didn’t technically need a win yesterday, given the Seattle Kraken ended up losing to the Vegas Golden Knights anyways, Los Angeles clinched third spot in the Pacific Division. As a result, they’ll face the Edmonton Oilers in the first round of the playoffs once again.


I’m not sure that there was really an easy option in terms of who they could potentially face, though the two recent losses to the Oilers this didn’t necessarily inspire a ton of confidence going into this matchup.

It’ll mark the rematch of last year’s first round series, which saw the Kings fall in seven games. That said, each team has improved their roster since last year, so we can expect an exciting series once again.

The big question marks with the Kings remain who will actually be available. Mikey Anderson returning yesterday was a huge boost, but the fates of Kevin Fiala and Gabriel Vilardi still remain uncertain. With the Oilers being just about able to score at will sometimes, getting back two productive forwards would be a big boost for the Kings.

I’ll have in-depth previews in the coming days, before the series kicks off on Monday in Edmonton.


QuizMaker

OTHER ARTICLES FROM APRIL

Kings end road trip with back-to-back wins, clinch playoff spot
Kings come up short in another key showdown against Oilers
Looking at different playoff scenarios for the Kings after recent slide
Kings at risk of slipping to wild card spot amidst three-game losing streak
Breaking down the playoff picture in West before Kings’ 82nd game

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