Trevor Moore notched his second NHL hat trick to help the Los Angeles Kings end a three-game skid with a 5-2 win against the visiting Seattle Kraken on Wednesday evening.
Kevin Fiala had a goal and an assist and Pierre-Luc Dubois had three assists for the Kings, who are a point back of the Nashville Predators for the first wild card from the Western Conference and three points back of the Vegas Golden Knights for third in the Pacific Division. All three teams have seven games remaining in the regular season.
Cam Talbot made 21 saves for Los Angeles (39-25-11, 89 points).
Andre Burakovsky and Brian Dumoulin scored and Philipp Grubauer made 22 saves for the Kraken (31-31-13, 75 points), who were officially eliminated from playoff contention.
Adrian Kempe scored his 24th goal of the season while on a power play to give the Kings a 1-0 lead at 9:24 of the first period. Kempe found room in the slot and Viktor Arvidsson fed him for the one-timer.
The Kings extended the lead to 2-0 at 7:39 of the second period.
Los Angeles passed the puck around the perimeter before defenseman Matt Roy fed Moore for a redirection from just above the crease.
Moore scored again at 11:49 of the second period to make it 3-0.
Seattle turned the puck over in the neutral zone and Dubois — who assisted on all of Moore’s goals — brought the puck down the right side before centering a pass to Moore. His initial shot was saved by Grubauer, but Moore scored the rebound.
Blake Lizotte was called for a double-minor high-sticking penalty at 3:43 of the third period and Burakovsky scored with three seconds left on the first penalty off a feed from Oliver Bjorkstrand to cut it to 3-1.
Shortly after the Kings killed the second penalty, Lizotte blocked a shot with his stick, leading to a breakaway goal by Fiala for a 4-1 lead at 10:45.
Dumoulin banked a shot from the left circle off the inside of the left post 35 seconds later to cut it to 4-2.
Moore got loose for another breakaway and scored between the pads of Grubauer to make it 5-2 at 16:57.
Moore has a team-leading 29 goals.
–Field Level Media