CALGARY, Alberta — The Kings spent the past few weeks surging their way into the playoffs.
The reward for that effort is a first-round series against the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Colorado Avalanche.
Arsenii Sergeev made 27 saves to earn the win in his first NHL start, Zayne Parekh broke a third-period tie and the Calgary Flames beat the Kings, 3-1, on Thursday night at Scotiabank Saddledome.
The Kings finished in the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference and will play the Avalanche in a best-of-seven series that begins Sunday at noon PT in Denver.
The Kings brought an eight-game point streak (6-0-2) into the finale with the potential to ascend as high as second place in the Pacific Division, but wins by the Ducks (5-4 against the Nashville Predators) and Edmonton Oilers (6-1 against the Vancouver Canucks) locked them into the second wild card regardless of their result against the Flames.
Quinton Byfield scored his fourth goal in the past three games for the Kings (35-27-20, 90 points), and Anton Forsberg made 18 saves.
Morgan Frost, Zayne Parekh and Joel Farabee scored for the Flames (34-39-9, 77 points), and Zach Whitecloud had two assists. Sergeev was recalled from Calgary of the AHL on an emergency basis with Devin Cooley out (illness).
Frost opened the scoring at 5:21 of the second period on a power play with his 22nd of the season. Byfield tied it less than two minutes later with his 24th.
Farabee scored into an empty net to reach 20 goals for the season.
Kings forward Anze Kopitar played in his final regular-season game and finished with 452 goals and 864 assists for 1,316 points in 1,520 career NHL games.
The Kings and their fans have seen more than enough of the Oilers the past four years, with Edmonton handing them a first-round exit each time (with varying degrees of frustration along the way). This year they will tangle with the top-seeded Avalanche, and it figures to be a considerable challenge.
More to come on this story.
KINGS VS. AVALANCHE SCHEDULE
All times are PT
Game 1 – at Avalanche, Sunday, noon, TNT, truTV
Game 2 – at Avalanche, Tuesday, 7 p.m., ESPN
Game 3 – at Kings, Thurs., April 23, 7 p.m., TNT, truTV
Game 4 – at Kings, Sun., April 26, 1:30 p.m., TNT, truTV
x-Game 5 – at Avalanche, Wed., April 29, TBA
x-Game 6 – at Kings, Fri., May 1, TBA
x-Game 7 – at Avalanche, Sun., May 3, TBA
x – If necessary