LOS ANGELES—Our Los Angeles Kings are clinging for dear life in the playoff push, holding the final wild card thanks to a shutout victory, 1-0 against the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday, April 11 at Crypto.com Arena.
Riding a four-game winning streak, plus an incredible goaltender is promising for the team, in pursuit of a Stanley Cup.
Artemi Panarin scored the only goal for the Kings on a breakaway at 12:26 of the opening frame, blocking a shot from Evan Bouchard to go in alone and snipe the game-winner over the glove of Connor Ingram, who had a strong showing with 20 saves on 21 shots.
Kings’ goalie Anton Forsberg was a brick wall in front of the net. Collecting his third shutout this season, stopping a whopping 28 shots on goal courtesy of the Oilers.
This victory was superb because Edmonton is always eliminating the Los Angeles Kings from the NHL Playoffs, maybe we will see an again in the near future to finally get some revenge.
“I thought the effort was great,” said Head Coach Kris Knoblauch. “We worked hard and did a lot of good things right, but we did make some mistakes. Ingram played really well. I thought we had enough scoring chances to certainly get more than one goal tonight, and their goalie played well and we missed some really good opportunities.”
Canyon News was there on Thursday, April 9, as the Kings crushed the woeful Vancouver Canucks by a score of 4-1.
LA leapfrogged the Nashville Predators for the coveted final playoff spot in the victory.
The night belonged to Adrian Kempe, who scored 2 goals as Los Angeles is in control of their own destiny.
Kempe netted his second goal with 28.2 seconds left in the middle period by redirecting Joel Edmundson’s slap shot for a 3-1 lead. Kempe has been the main offensive catalyst during the Kings’ five-game point streak, collecting seven goals and two assists in that span with three multigoal efforts.
The switch to Forsberg in net is also paying dividends, as he has won three straight starts while allowing four goals total.
It was the final home game for the regular season. The game was Anze Kopitar’s final regular-season home game, with the captain set to retire following the conclusion of the 2025-26 season.
The Kings are pushing hard for a playoff spot, with recent crucial wins keeping the intense Western Conference race alive.
If the L.A. Kings defeat the Kraken in any fashion, and if the Sharks defeat the Predators in regulation tonight, the Kings clinch a playoff berth.
In a few hours, the Kings travel to the breathtaking northwest to face the Seattle Kraken at 6:30 p.m.
