Unless the Los Angeles Kings reach the Stanley Cup Finals, they won’t face another Eastern Conference team this season.

The way the Kings are playing lately, a championship run doesn’t seem like a long shot.

Los Angeles (40-20-9, 89 points) begins its final stretch of 13 straight games against Western Conference opponents when it hosts the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night, the first of three meetings between the teams over the next 24 days.

After a 4-1 win against the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday night, Los Angeles coach Todd McLellan was only looking ahead to the next day’s practice.

“The race to the end, for us, is just the next game, (Friday’s) practice,” he said. “We don’t have to worry about Vancouver until we get (to Crypto.com arena), but (Friday’s) practice will be important.”

The win against the Blue Jackets extended their point streak to eight games (7-0-1), gave the Kings 40 wins in the third-fastest time in franchise history, and pulled them within a point of the Vegas Golden Knights for first place in the Pacific Division.

Los Angeles has not allowed more than two goals in its past seven games.

“It’s hard to keep teams to two goals against or less consistently, and we’ve been able to do it for a while,” McLellan said. “It means you’re getting great goaltending, the penalty kill is probably doing its thing, and four lines and three pairs of defensemen are committed to doing things right.”

Drew Doughty has scored goals in back-to-back games for the first time this season. Viktor Arvidsson also scored against Columbus to move within one goal of his goal total from last season (20). Anze Kopitar notched his 26th goal on the season against the Blue Jackets, moving within reach of the fourth 30-goal season of 17-year NHL career.

Trevor Moore set up Arvidsson with a slick pass, showing the playmaking ability that helped him produce career highs of 17 goals and 31 assists last season.

Moore had been slowed this season by an upper-body injury that sidelined him from the Christmas break until after the All-Star break. He returned for five games, but then went down for another seven games.

Playing on a line with Phillip Danault and Arvidsson, Moore has three points (one goal, two assists) in the four games since his latest return.

“He looks more like he did earlier in the year and last year,” McLellan said. “His energy with that line matches now. It didn’t match the first time back, but it does match now.”

The Canucks (29-33-5, 63 points) won a season-high five in a row before losing 3-2 at the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday night to kick off a three-game road trip.

“We’ve got to get back to our work boots,” Vancouver coach Rick Tocchet said.

The Los Angeles power play — which is ranked sixth in the NHL at 24.2 percent but has struggled since forward Kevin Fiala (lower-body) and defenseman Sean Durzi (upper-body) went down with injuries earlier this month — should welcome the opportunity to face the Vancouver penalty kill.

The Canucks are last in the league at killing power plays, sitting at a 68.2 percent success rate. Only four NHL teams have ever finished with a penalty-kill percentage below 70 percent and the last was the Kings in 1982-83 (68.6).

The Coyotes, who are ranked 22nd in the NHL on the power play, went 2-for-3 against the Canucks in their win on Thursday night.

–Field Level Media

A two-game losing streak is not the end of the world for the Dallas Stars at this juncture.

Even so, the Stars are well aware of the need to snap their skid as they finish a six-game road trip with Saturday’s clash with the Calgary Flames.

The Central Division-leading Stars (37-19-13, 87 points) sit one point ahead of the Minnesota Wild and three up on the Colorado Avalanche heading into Saturday’s action. Minnesota has one game in hand and the defending Stanley Cup champion Avalanche have two games in hand.

A 4-1 loss to the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday, following the 5-2 loss to the Vancouver Canucks two nights earlier, has impacted the standings for Dallas.

“It’s been tight for a while, not just now,” forward Joe Pavelski told the Stars’ website. “Teams are playing good, teams are winning games, and you’re going to get games like this at the end of the year. It’s nothing new, it’s nothing unexpected. It only gets harder, really.”

Being without forwards Tyler Seguin (leg laceration) and Mason Marchment (knee) has affected the Stars. Defenseman Miro Heiskanen is on a nine-game point streak, with three goals and 15 points, and rookie Wyatt Johnston has scored in three consecutive games, but Dallas needs others to step up.

Even so, now is not a time to panic.

“We weren’t going to win the conference by 10 points to begin with, so we’re right in the middle of where we want to be,” coach Pete DeBoer said. “We’ve got to execute and win some games.”

The Flames (31-24-14, 76 points) are three points behind the Winnipeg Jets for the second wild-card spot, but they gave their playoff hopes a jolt with Thursday’s 7-2 road win over the Vegas Golden Knights.

“It’s a huge win,” said forward Blake Coleman after a two-goal outing. “Obviously we had trouble with third periods and putting teams away, but start to finish, I thought we did a pretty good job not taking our foot off the gas. It’s two big points for us.”

The Flames have a 4-1-1 record in their last six games — with the regulation-time loss coming at the hands of the Anaheim Ducks and the overtime defeat against the Arizona Coyotes, two clubs that will not make the playoffs.

Every win Calgary can manage right now is huge, but the Vegas one did have extra oomph. Not only was it the first time the Flames have ever won in Sin City (after sporting a 0-7-1 record prior to Thursday’s game), but it also came after they saw a 2-0 lead evaporate. Coleman’s first goal of the night 83 seconds after it became a 2-2 game late in the second period ultimately held up as the winner on a night when Tyler Toffoli collected two goals and two assists.

“I think we’ve stayed in the moment and have tried to do that for quite a while,” coach Darryl Sutter said. “If you think about it, we’ve been in so many one-goal games all year. You could easily walk away from it and say, ‘Well, this isn’t going to work,’ but that hasn’t happened with our club yet.”

Now the quest is for the Flames to compile a lengthy winning streak.

“We know the importance of every game now,” defenseman MacKenzie Weegar said. “We basically have to win every game and that’s the mentality going forward.”

–Field Level Media

Sammy Blais enjoyed his first career two-goal game to lead the visiting St. Louis Blues past the Washington Capitals 5-2 Friday night.

Brayden Schenn had a goal and an assist for the Blues, who have won three of their past five games. Jordan Kyrou and Kasperi Kapanen scored, and Brandon Saad earned two assists.

Joel Hofer, who came up from Springfield of the AHL to replace the suspended Jordan Binnnington, made 32 saves for St. Louis in his first appearance of the season and his third in the NHL.

Martin Fehervary and Nicklas Backstrom scored and Darcy Kuemper stopped 17 shots for the Capitals, who have won just two of their last six games (2-3-1).

Blais scored 1:54 into the game put the Blues ahead 1-0. Schenn passed to Saad breaking in from the left wing, and then Saad hit Blais with a cross-crease pass to set up the tally.

Kyrou pushed the Blues’ lead to 2-0 by converting a breakaway 4:51 into the second period. Colton Parayko triggered the play by rimming the puck out of the Blues’ zone and up the right boards.

Jakub Vrana claimed the puck in the neutral zone, spun and hit Kyrou flying up the middle up the ice alone. Kyrou has five goals and four assists in his past six games.

The Blues scored again in transition to extend their lead to 3-0 at the 9:25 mark of the middle period. Pavel Buchnevich spun in the neutral zone to feed Kapanen for a slap shot moving in from the right wing.

Krug set up Blais in the slot for his second goal as the Blues increased the margin to 4-0 at 14:36 of the second period.

Fehervary put the Capitals on the board 5:47 into the third period. He moved in from the right point to convert a cross-ice pass from Alexander Alexeyev.

Backstrom scored a power-play goal from the right faceoff dot with 2:46 to go as the Capitals played six-on-four with Kuemper pulled. But Schenn iced the game with an empty-net goal with 1:39 left.

–Field Level Media

Zach Aston-Reese scored two goals and the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the visiting Carolina Hurricanes 5-2 Friday night.

Morgan Rielly added a goal and an assist for Toronto, Mitchell Marner and Auston Matthews also scored and John Tavares and Calle Jarnkrok each had two assists.

Ilya Samsonov stopped 30 shots as the Maple Leafs completed a 2-1-1 homestand. They start a five-game road trip Saturday against the Ottawa Senators.

Brady Skjei and Martin Necas scored for Carolina in the opener of a three-game road trip.

Pyotr Kochetkov made 19 saves for the Hurricanes, who have lost three of their past four games.

Toronto led 3-1 after the first period.

Aston-Reese tipped Erik Gustafsson’s shot at 2:54 to open the scoring.

Marner scored his 25th of the season at 12:30 with a shot from the right circle on a nifty rush from the neutral zone.

Skjei answered with his 14th of the season at 14:57 when his shot from the left circle squirted past Samsonov.

Matthews deflected a shot by Tavares for his 32nd goal on a power play at 17:38. Jordan Staal was off for boarding.

Each team had 11 shots on goal in the first.

Necas scored his 26th goal of the season at 10:45 of the second period with a 30-foot wrist shot from the right circle. Teuvo Teravainen made the pass.

Aston-Reese scored his seventh goal of the season at 14:59 of the second to restore Toronto’s two-goal margin. He converted a pass from Sam Lafferty to complete a two-on-one rush that followed a Carolina turnover.

Carolina had a 23-19 advantage in shots on goal after the second period.

Rielly scored his fourth goal of the season at 8:56 of the third period on a 23-foot wrist shot.

Toronto forward Noel Acciari (upper-body injury) left the game and did not return after a first-period collision with Jesse Puljujarvi.

The Maple Leafs wore white and green uniforms to commemorate St. Patrick’s Day.

With defenseman Luke Schenn in the lineup for Toronto, defenseman Justin Holl was a healthy scratch.

–Field Level Media

Owen Tippett scored three goals to lift the host Philadelphia Flyers to a dominant 5-2 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Friday.

Joel Farabee and James van Riemsdyk each added one goal for the Flyers (25-32-11, 61 points), who snapped a four-game losing streak.

Kevin Hayes and Tony DeAngelo each had two assists for the Flyers. Goaltender Carter Hart made 36 saves.

Victor Olofsson scored two goals for the Sabres (33-29-6, 72 points), who lost their second straight. Sabres goaltender Craig Anderson stopped 17 shots.

The Sabres entered the night six points behind the New York Islanders for the second wild-card spot. Buffalo is attempting to snap an 11-year streak of missing the playoffs.

Buffalo came out aggressive in the third period and closed within 4-1 when Olofsson scored on the power play at 2:27.

The Flyers responded to go back ahead by four goals when Tippett notched his first career hat trick at 5:33 for a 5-1 lead. Tippett scored on the backhand and the hats came pouring down on the ice from the stands.

Olofsson’s second power-play goal came with just 0.4 seconds remaining with the game already decided.

Tippett skated in all alone and fired a backhand shot at 12:36 of the first period, which was stopped by Anderson. Just 23 seconds later, Buffalo’s Jordan Greenway had a terrific scoring chance, but his backhand shot was stopped by Hart.

The Flyers went ahead 1-0 at 15:10 when Tippett ripped a wrist shot on the power play into the upper corner of the net.

Philadelphia took a 2-0 advantage at 3:53 of the second period when Farabee connected.

Tippett’s second goal, coming at 13:14 for his 20th of the season, gave the Flyers a 3-0 advantage.

Philadelphia kept the pressure on and took a 4-0 lead at 18:21 following van Riemsdyk’s tap-in.

The Sabres appeared to express their frustration as several players became entangled with the Flyers by the boards with 50.5 seconds remaining. Riley Stillman and Zemgus Girgensons were noticeably upset.

–Field Level Media

The NHL might as well start engraving the Art Ross Trophy, because nobody is catching Edmonton’s Connor McDavid for the scoring title.

Already with 131 points, the Oilers star has a whopping 30 more than anyone else in the league, and his 57 goals are 11 more than any other player.

His point total is already the most in the NHL in more than a quarter century (since Mario Lemieux totaled 161 in 1996), and McDavid will try to add to his total Saturday afternoon in Seattle when the Oilers (38-28-8, 84 points) face the host Kraken (38-23-7, 83 points).

McDavid scored his NHL-leading 57th goal and added an assist Thursday in the Oilers’ 4-1 victory over visiting Dallas.

“We’re getting to the point in the season where it’s almost like coaches step back and the players (take over),” Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft said. “You give them a plan and hold people accountable but we’re getting to the players’ time of year here.”

Mattias Janmark scored twice and Evan Bouchard had a pair of assists Thursday for Edmonton, which has won two straight and four of its past five games. Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner stopped 25 of the 26 shots he faced.

“We are always hungry to continue to get better,” Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse said. “We can definitely take some good pieces from that game and build on them. That is a good sign for us here. We have a lot of important hockey coming up.”

The Oilers are in third place, a point ahead of Seattle in the Pacific Division, though the Kraken have a game in hand.

Seattle snapped a three-game winless streak (0-2-1) with a 2-1 overtime victory Thursday in San Jose.

Vince Dunn scored the winner to extend his points streak to a franchise-record 11 games (four goals, 12 assists). Dunn is the third defenseman to have an 11-game run this season, joining San Jose’s Erik Karlsson and Winnipeg’s Josh Morrissey.

Oliver Bjorkstrand had a goal and an assist for the Kraken and goalie Philipp Grubauer made 31 saves.

“There was a will to him,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said of Dunn. “You can see his confidence offensively with the puck. At times he controlled some of the play, and maybe fitting that he was the guy to make the play on the winning goal.”

This will be the fourth and final regular-season meeting between the teams. The Oilers have a 2-1-0 edge in the season series, including a 7-2 victory Dec. 30 at Seattle. McDavid has seven points (three goals, four assists) in the three games.

“Coming up is a pretty big test,” Grubauer said. “We are playing teams that are even with us in the standings.”

Seattle’s Matty Beniers is tied for the NHL’s rookie goal-scoring lead with 19 this season. Dallas’ Wyatt Johnston pulled even with Beniers with the Stars’ lone goal in Thursday’s loss in Edmonton.

The Oilers hope to get forward Zach Hyman back after he sat out the previous two games with an undisclosed injury. Hyman had a goal and two assists against the Kraken in a 5-2 home victory on Jan. 17.

Seattle posted a 5-2 victory at Edmonton on Jan. 3, rallying from a two-goal deficit. Jaden Schwartz had a goal and two assists.
–Field Level Media

A few games of chaotic roster situations created some inconsistent performances and dropped the New York Rangers in the standings.

Lately it appears the Rangers are regaining their footing.

New York aims for a third straight win Saturday night when they host the Pittsburgh Penguins for the second time in three days.

New York (39-19-10, 88 points) is 4-0-1 over its past five games following a 2-5-1 skid that ran from Feb. 18 to March 4. The two-week slide occurred as the Rangers played with a short roster for salary cap reasons to eventually acquire Patrick Kane from the Chicago Blackhawks on March 1.

The Rangers are 4-2-1 in seven games since Kane joined the team March 2, the latest instance being Thursday’s 4-2 victory. New York never trailed and never played short-handed as Mika Zibanejad and Tyler Motte scored before Chris Kreider netted the tiebreaking goal and an empty-net tally in the third period.

“We’re playing the right way now and then that skill comes out,” New York defenseman Adam Fox said. “You need a little time to click with new guys and I think we’ve done a good job of that the last few games.”

It was the second straight game the Rangers never trailed after allowing opponents to score first in 10 of their previous 13 games.

New York’s ability to start clicking again sends them into Saturday with a 10-point lead on the Penguins (34-24-10, 78 points). The Rangers are seven points behind the New Jersey Devils in a bid to finish second place in the Metropolitan Division and earn home-ice in the opening round.

“The division is tight,” Kreider said. “Playoff race is tight. It’s a big win, big division win, a four-point game.”

Pittsburgh shares the same point total as the New York Islanders, who are playing in San Jose later Saturday. The Penguins have one fewer win but have two games in hand with the Islanders, against whom they are 0-3-1.

Besides trying to stay ahead of the Islanders, the Penguins are attempting to fend off the Florida Panthers and Washington Capitals in the wild-card race. Florida is three points back with 14 games left and scored nine goals Thursday.

Pittsburgh won four straight Feb. 25 to March 2 but is a middling 3-3-1 over its past seven games and has allowed 10 goals in the past two games following last weekend’s two wins over the Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers.

After allowing four goals in the opening period of a 6-4 loss to the Montreal Canadiens, the Penguins got better goaltending from Tristan Jarry but struggled in containing New York’s frequent odd-man rushes.

“I thought as a team we had our moments,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. “I didn’t think we brought a level of urgency that we needed to early in the game. I thought we gave up a few too many odd-man rushes, which just boils down to details. And so I just think we need to bring more urgency.”

The moments Sullivan referenced included tying goals by Richard Rakell and Jake Guentzel. Both goals were set up by Sidney Crosby, who has two goals and eight assists in a modest six-game points streak.

“We feel like the last five, six games have been like this, but we’ve just got to find a way because it’s the time of year,” Rakell said. “You’ve got to find a way to win these games.”

–Field Level Media

The Montreal Canadiens will be looking for a few things to show up in their play when they travel up Florida’s Gulf Coast to play the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday night — a short memory and the ability to bounce back.

Stung by a 9-5 throttling by the Florida Panthers in a very forgettable Thursday night in south Florida, Montreal (27-36-6, 60 points) surrendered seven goals in the match’s opening 13:18 and saw goaltenders Sam Montembeault and Jake Allen tag in and out as the home side scored on nine of 42 shots.

Starting in goal and returning to finish the blowout, Montembeault made 21 saves on 24 shots. In his stint of 21:29, Allen let in six goals on 18 shots.

The Panthers became the first club to score seven times in the first period since the Hartford Whalers beat Montreal 11-6 on Oct. 19, 1985.

“We gave up way too many chances the whole game,” said Montreal captain Nick Suzuki. “Against a team like that, with the offensive players they have, they’re going to score.

“It felt like we were playing shinny hockey in the summer and they were playing to make a playoff spot. So it’s pretty unacceptable from us.”

The Habs got a goal and an assist each from Mike Matheson and Anthony Richard. Michael Pezzetta, Rafael Harvey-Pinard and Rem Pitlick found the net, but the Canadiens lost for the eighth time in nine games (1-6-2) — in epic fashion, no less.

“There’s nothing we can do about it,” said Pitlick, who tallied on the power play. “I thought we made some push-back, too. (Coach) Marty (St. Louis) kind of left us as a group in between periods, and some things were said. I did think that we made some pushes.”

The Lightning (41-22-6, 88 points) had to push to the end, hung on in overtime and saw Alex Killorn ring home the game-deciding goal in the shootout’s bottom of the third round of a 4-3 win at the New Jersey Devils.

In a critical third period with the game knotted at 2-2, Tampa Bay killed off a full two-minute, five-on-three Devils power play. Steven Stamkos then exited the penalty box and scored the go-ahead goal with less than five minutes to play.

New Jersey’s Timo Meier did tie it over two minutes later with his second tally of the match, but the enormous effort on the penalty kill and the 29th marker by Stamkos — who had two goals and an assist — put the visitors in position to win.

“I think the turning point was the penalty kill for us, the five-on-three,” said defenseman Mikhail Sergachev, who dealt out two assists. “(Defensively), we were on the inside. We didn’t let them do much. They were shooting from the outside.”

In two victories this season, the defending Eastern Conference champions have a 9-2 scoring advantage over the Habs.

–Field Level Media