SEATTLE (AP) — Samuel Helenius scored twice, David Rittich made 28 saves, and the Los Angeles Kings spoiled the Seattle Kraken’s home finale with a 6-5 victory on Tuesday night.
The Kings head into their regular-season finale locked into a first-round playoff series against the Edmonton Oilers. After the Kings blew a 2-0 first-period cushion, they responded with four unanswered goals over a five-plus minute stretch of game time between the second and third periods.
Warren Foegele gave the lead back to Los Angeles with 3:55 to play in the second and Alex Laferriere made it 4-2 just 72 seconds later. Adrian Kempe and Helenius added third-period goals to make it 6-2.
Seattle nearly came back in the third period with three straight goals from Jaden Schwartz, Matty Beniers and Eeli Tolvanen, but the deficit was too much.
Seattle erased a two-goal deficit with a short-handed goal from Tye Kartye at 5:26 of the second period and a power-play tally by Brandon Montour at 13:24.
Seattle goalie Joey Daccord had 18 saves.
Takeaways
Kings: Five-on-five is where LA dominated on Tuesday and it didn’t need a lot of shots on goal to end up with its 17th road victory of the season. The Kings had 14 total shots on target in the first 40 minutes.
Kraken: For the second consecutive season, the Kraken finished with less than 20 home victories and a minus goal differential of at least 15. Seattle will finish as the fourth-worst team in the Western Conference.
Key moment
An icing reset the puck in Seattle’s zone and LA took advantage with a faceoff win, one of 30 on the night, and Foegele’s goal.
Key stat
Helenius came into Tuesday’s game with two goals. He equaled that total in 13:49 minutes of ice time against the Kraken.
Up Next
The Kings close the regular season at home against the Calgary Flames on Thursday night. The Kraken’s season is done.
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