Kings use 3rd-period surge to beat Utah

SALT LAKE CITY — The Kings are doing their best to remain ahead of the Edmonton Oilers as they battle for potential home-ice advantage in the postseason – and a Pacific Division title isn’t out of the question either.

Kevin Fiala and Trevor Moore scored in a 44-second span early in the third period and the Kings beat the Utah Hockey Club, 4-2, on Thursday night for their third straight win and seventh in their past nine games.

Drew Doughty had an empty-net goal and an assist, Adrian Kempe scored his 33rd of the season and Darcy Kuemper made 28 saves for the Kings (43-23-9, 95 points), who remain two points ahead of the Edmonton (44-26-5) for second place and moved within three points of first-place Vegas (45-22-8) in the division.

“Obviously, we’ve been on a roll here,” Fiala said told NHL.com. “We just take it game by game, and that’s what’s been awesome so far. … Right now, we are at the highest level that we have been, and that’s the best part of it.”

Jack McBain had a goal and an assist, Lawson Crouse also scored and Karel Vejmelka stopped 15 shots in his 19th consecutive start for Utah (34-30-12, 80 points), which had won two in a row. Vejmelka’s streak of starts is the longest by an NHL goalie since Kuemper started 22 in a row for Arizona in 2019.

The Kings took a 2-1 lead at 4:06 of the third period. Utah won a faceoff in its zone, but a pass into the middle by defenseman Olli Maatta was intercepted by Fiala alone in the slot, and he fired a snap shot into the net for his 29th goal of the season.

Moore was then the first player down the ice for a puck that went deep in the Utah zone, and he beat Vejmelka with a backhander for his 18th goal of the season to make it 3-1 at 4:50.

“[Phillip Danault] just made a really good play, knocking it out of the air,” Moore said of his goal, where he picked up a deflected puck in Utah’s zone and beat Vejmelka. “Those fluky things happen from time to time. We’ll take them.”

Doughty collected his empty-net goal to make it 4-1 with 1:50 left, and McBain scored on a power play with 20 seconds remaining to cut it to 4-2.

The Kings were getting outshot 22-4 when Kempe scored on a controversial play to give them a 1-0 lead at 6:56 of the second period.

Andrei Kuzmenko tried to feed Kempe crashing through the slot on a rush, but Kempe was pulled down by Utah forward Logan Cooley just before both crashed into Vejmelka.

A scrum ensued and there was no immediate indication of a goal, but the NHL Situation Room in Toronto interceded and awarded the goal to Kempe after a replay showed the puck had crossed the goal line beneath Vejmelka.

Utah tied it at 1-1 at 12:21 of the second. Crouse brought the puck from below the goal line to the bottom of the left circle before fitting his wrist shot just inside the near post and under the crossbar.

Utah briefly thought it took a 1-0 lead at 1:22 of the first period when Dylan Guenther fired in a hard wrist shot from the top of the right circle, but the Kings challenged for offside and it was confirmed, negating the goal.

Kuemper made 16 saves in the scoreless first period, while Vejmelka faced only three shots.

“He just made good saves and he’s done that for us all year,” Kings head coach Jim Hiller told NHL.com. “We knew he was a good goalie and he was going to play well for us, but he’s been our backbone all year. In wins like this, you just need your goaltender to let you get your legs underneath it, and he gave us every opportunity. Otherwise, it should have been over early, and we would not have been able to come back. Give him full marks.”

The Kings play five of their final seven regular-season games at Crypto.com Arena, where they have been absurdly good (28-4-4). They host Edmonton – the team that has eliminated them in the first round of the playoffs the past three years – on Saturday at 1 p.m. to begin a four-game homestand.

“We’ve played them a lot over the last few years,” Moore told NHL.com. “They’re probably a first-round opponent. So, we’re going to be giving it our all, and like we always do against those guys. It’s a tough game.”