Seattle Kraken eliminated from playoff contention in loss to Kings

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Trevor Moore scored three goals for his second career hat trick, and the Los Angeles Kings snapped their three-game skid while eliminating Seattle from the Stanley Cup playoff race with a 5-2 victory over the Kraken on Wednesday night.

Los Angeles Kings 5, Seattle Kraken 2: Box score

Adrian Kempe and Kevin Fiala also scored and Cam Talbot made 21 saves for the Kings, who pulled within one point of Nashville for the top wild-card spot in the Western Conference by ending their longest losing streak since the 1-6-4 midseason skid that cost coach Todd McLellan his job.

The Kings took control with two goals in just over four minutes of the second period by Moore, who then secured his first hat trick since November 2022 on a slick breakaway with 3:03 to play.

The Thousand Oaks native improbably leads Los Angeles this season with 29 goals. That’s 12 more than Moore’s previous career high and more than all of his elite offensive teammates.

Despite dropping three games in Canada over the previous week to fall out of third place in the Pacific Division, Los Angeles is now five points ahead of St. Louis for the second wild card in the Western Conference with seven games to play.

Pierre-Luc Dubois had three assists for the Kings, who are three points behind Vegas for third in the Pacific. Just one of Los Angeles’ final seven regular-season opponents is currently in a playoff position.

Andre Burakovsky and Brian Dumoulin scored in the third period for the Kraken, who will miss the playoffs for the second time in their three seasons of existence.

big response goal from number 8️⃣ pic.twitter.com/M6ChdXxw2g

— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) April 4, 2024

Philipp Grubauer stopped 22 shots for Seattle, which won 46 games and made its postseason debut last year as a wild card before stunning Central Division champion Colorado in the first round. But the Kraken have only 31 victories this season with seven games to play.

Kempe put the Kings ahead on a power play midway through the first period with with a quick wrist shot in the slot off a pass from Viktor Arvidsson for his 24th goal.

Moore scored in the second when he redirected a long shot by Matt Roy to cap a sequence in which the Kings repeatedly kept the puck in Seattle’s end. Dubois then found Moore driving the net just over four minutes later, and Moore scored on his own rebound when Grubauer couldn’t corral the puck under pressure from Arvidsson.

Burakovsky scored Seattle’s first goal on Oliver Bjorkstrand’s cross-crease pass during a power play midway through the third.

Fiala scored his 26th goal with 9:15 to play on a breakaway created by Blake Lizotte’s diving stick deflection of Will Borgen’s attempted slap shot, but Dumoulin ended his 25-game goal drought just 35 seconds later to keep it close.

Kings forward Phillip Danault missed his third straight game with an upper-body injury.

UP NEXT

Kraken: At Anaheim on Friday.

Kings: At San Jose on Thursday.

Monday: Shane Wright scores in Kraken return as Seattle beats Sharks 4-2