Before the Los Angeles Kings can focus on winning their first Stanley Cup playoff series in 10 years, they need to reserve a spot in the postseason.
The Kings can check that off the list with a win against the visiting Calgary Flames on Thursday night.
Los Angeles (41-26-11, 93 points) missed its first opportunity to clinch a third straight playoff berth on Tuesday night, losing 3-1 to the Anaheim Ducks, a team it had defeated eight straight times.
“Clinching a playoff spot is always difficult, especially if it comes down to the last four or five games of the year,” Kings forward Blake Lizotte said.
Los Angeles veteran forward Trevor Lewis, one of three current Kings who were on the 2012 and 2014 Stanley Cup championship teams, said he and his teammates weren’t feeling additional pressure to clinch against the Ducks.
“Everyone knows where we’re at,” he said. “We’re trying to prepare like we’re going into playoffs here. When you get into the playoffs, you can’t just flip a switch. We got to make sure we got our details down. Play every game really hard.”
Los Angeles interim coach Jim Hiller concurred.
“You get together months ago to try to get to this point,” Hiller said. “This is a veteran team, so I wouldn’t put any weight in that. I would put weight in the way we started the game (against Anaheim), and then we thought it might be easy and it is never easy in the National (Hockey) League.”
Hiller said the Kings didn’t do a good enough job of getting the puck deep against the Ducks.
“When we did, we had success,” Hiller said. “When we didn’t, they scored two goals and also pushed us back, so that’s a pretty easy fix, it’s just understanding and having the will to do it over and over again.”
The Flames (35-37-5, 75 points) were eliminated from the playoffs last Thursday following a 5-2 loss to the Winnipeg Jets.
It was a disappointing follow-up to last season, when Calgary finished just two points behind the Jets for the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference.
The Flames could still play spoiler, however.
They beat the Kings 4-2 on March 30 and by the same score on Feb. 27, with both games in Calgary.
Calgary should also feel somewhat emboldened after beating the San Jose Sharks 3-2 in overtime on Tuesday to end a three-game skid.
The Flames are also red hot on the power play, going 10-for-22 over the past six games.
Andrei Kuzmenko scored the game-winner against San Jose on a power play during overtime, giving him 11 points (five goals, six assists) during his six-game point streak.
“We’re scoring goals, and they’re crucial goals in these hockey games,” Calgary forward Nazem Kadri said after scoring the game-tying goal on a power play late in the second period against San Jose. “As a group, I think we take pride in trying to give our group a boost of energy. When things aren’t going too well, we’re accountable with one another. I think that’s important.”
The Flames could be without defenseman Oliver Kylington, who missed Tuesday’s game with an upper-body injury.
–Field Level Media
