Kempe leads the Kings to 1st with an 8-2 win over the Flames

Drew Doughty and Victor Arvidsson scored four goals in Los Angeles’ first period, Adrian Kempe scored two goals and an assist, and the Kings took first place in the Pacific Division with an 8 win over the Calgary Flames :2. Monday night.

Karl Grundström had two goals, while Gabriel Vilardi and Mikey Anderson also scored for the Kings, who tied Vegas at the top of the division, extending their hitting streak to 10 games (8-0-2) with their second streak of eight goals in the season. . The Kings earned a point in every game in March, contending only for the second division title for a franchise with two Stanley Cup championships.

“They played a hell of a game,” Los Angeles coach Todd McLellan said of his team. “I thought our puck pressure and our tenacity were at their best, both when we had the puck and when we didn’t. This allowed us to create losses and use them.”

Phoenix Copley made 15 saves for Los Angeles, while captain Anze Kopitar, Quinton Byfield and Rasmus Kupari each made two assists.

“We got ahead early and then we didn’t look back,” Byfield said. “We went out, played our game from the very beginning. We took the lead and just kept playing right. Goals kept coming to us today.”

Tyler Toffoli scored against his former Flames team, which failed to catch up after conceding four goals in the first period for the first time since November 2017. Coach Darryl Sutter’s teams haven’t conceded four goals in their first period since October 2014. when he was still behind the bench.

“Game plan, you lost 4-nothing, pretty much gotta wash it off and start again, right?” Sutter said. “There is no other way. We scored a powerplay goal to start the second leg, but 5 on 5, I think they dominated us.”

Jacob Markstrom saved 20 shots and scored six goals in the first two periods of his 10th consecutive start before Dan Vladar scored in the third for the Flames. Markstrom also conceded six goals in Calgary’s overtime loss to Dallas two days earlier, beginning the team’s worst two-game defensive run of the season.

Calgary Flames defenseman Rasmus Andersson called it “a cruel game.”

“Our D-zone wasn’t good enough,” Andersson added. “We didn’t handle the puck well enough. We have not passed through the neutral zone. We didn’t actually have any forecheck. It felt like they had knocked out the puck. and I must be better. Tomorrow everyone should step up, but I have to play much better.”

Noah Honeyfin also scored for the Flames, who lost four of their six games, shattering their playoff hopes.

The Kings were effective offensively even as top scorer Kevin Fiala missed his fifth straight game with a lower body injury.

Grundström gave Los Angeles an early lead when he drove around Markstrom and scored a goal in his third straight game. Doughty then scored his third goal in four games from a long-range shot through traffic, with Vilardi scoring 57 seconds later.

Arvidsson added a powerplay goal from a Kempe pass through the ice to secure his fifth career 20-goal season, including both years with Los Angeles.

Toffoli scored his 29th slot goal in the 34th second of the second. The goal was Toffoli’s third in seven career games against the Kings, who drafted him in 2010 and won the Stanley Cup with him in 2014 before trading him in 2020.

But Kempe scored two goals in 4.5 minutes, giving him 34 goals this season. Anderson scored his first career powerplay goal in the third.

Milan Lucic was a healthy scratch for the second game in a row. The Calgary veteran who played one season with the Kings has only scored one goal in his last 27 games since Jan. 10.

NEXT

Flames: In Anaheim on Tuesday.

Kings: Receive Winnipeg on Saturday.