Kings win, clinch playoff spot at Kraken's expense

A playoff spot was clinched Monday night at Climate Pledge Arena, but not by the home team.

The Kraken had a chance to mess with the L.A. Kings, who were chasing the last remaining Stanley Cup Playoffs spot, after the Philadelphia Flyers and Anaheim Ducks clinched earlier in the evening. The team chasing the Kings, the Nashville Predators, lost in regulation.

The Kings were cruising their way to the finish line. Seattle was already down 3-0 by the time Adam Larsson scored early in the third period. Then Kraken forward Freddy Gaudreau added another, which spooked their opponents to the point that the Kings’ bench called its timeout.

Bobby McMann scored his 10th goal in 16 games since coming over from Toronto at the trade deadline, but the Kings scored before and after his tally for a 5-3 victory. L.A. secured its spot, which the Kraken occupied as recently as March 18.

The Kraken’s own playoff chances formally ended Saturday afternoon but unofficially died more than a week ago.

“Obviously, it’s disappointing when you don’t make the playoffs. For me, that’s unacceptable. That’s where we need to get to,” captain Jordan Eberle said Monday afternoon.

Eberle re-upped with the Kraken in March, but the Kraken have several pending unrestricted free agents whose futures with the team are uncertain after Thursday’s season finale in Colorado. Jaden Schwartz, Jamie Oleksiak, McMann and Eeli Tolvanen will see their current deals expire.

As the Kraken look to the future, they started phasing in some of their top prospects over the past few weeks. Some were added by design, most by necessity. All of them made the roster Monday. Seattle draft selections Oscar Fisker Molgaard and Jacob Melanson joined Ryan Winterton and Berkly Catton, both of whom have been with the team all season.

The goaltending duo was entirely call-ups from the Coachella Valley Firebirds. Nikke Kokko (25 saves) made his second straight start and Victor Ostman backed up. Both members of the Kraken’s usual goaltending tandem are injured and third goalie Matt Murray is away from the team due to a family matter.

Of the younger guys, Melanson had the most memorable performance against the Kings. He crunched L.A.’s Samuel Helenius into the boards during the first period. After Helenius popped up, he grabbed Melanson, gloves already off. The two were ready to brawl but an official dove in to intervene. The two kept trying to fight but had to settle for a war of words…temporarily.

“I tried to talk to him before the game, just seeing what he was up to,” Melanson said later. “He kind of jumped me off the start, so I wanted a fare square-off and he gave it to me.”

Five seconds after the pair exited the penalty boxes, Round 2 kicked off, and this time the officials let them get it out of their system. Melanson fared worse, absorbing several heavy blows. He tossed his bloodied helmet to the ice and marched straight down the tunnel to the Kraken locker room, though he later returned to keep pestering Helenius.

Six-foot-6 Helenius has six inches on Melanson, and Melanson knew what was coming. The two fought Dec. 1, 2023, when both were playing in the American Hockey League, and Melanson was on the losing end of that one too.

“Tried to get the guys going,” Melanson said, adding that he wanted some redemption as well.

L.A.’s Quinton Byfield scored a blink-and-you’ll miss it goal on Kokko 2:43 into the game. It came off a two-on-one, and was in the net so briefly the goal light never came on.

Later in the first period, Eberle put too much mustard on a pass back to the point and it jumped defenseman Ryan Lindgren’s stick. Byfield took off on a breakaway and beat Kokko again.

A hard rebound off the end boards hopped right to Trevor Moore, who scored the Kings’ third goal.

“I wasn’t unhappy with the way we were playing. I just didn’t like the scoreboard,” coach Lane Lambert said.

“But we did find a way to make it interesting.”

L.A. captain Anze Kopitar, 38, is set to retire after this season, his 20th in the NHL. All 20 were spent with the Kings. In his final game at Climate Pledge Arena, Kopitar picked up an assist, drew a penalty and waved to the cheering crowd as he headed off the ice.

The Kraken announced their team awards after the final horn. The Pete Muldoon (MVP) Award went to Eberle, the “3 Stars of the Year Award” went to center Matty Beniers and the Fan Favorite Award winner was goaltender Philipp Grubauer.

The Guyle Fielder Award, which honors the former Seattle Totems captain who passed away in February at age 95, went to Eberle as well.

Note

Earlier Monday, the Kraken announced franchise leading scorer Jared McCann would miss the final three games of the season due to a lower-body injury. He was out more than a month with one injury and three additional weeks with another, but still managed his fifth consecutive 20-goal season.

He hit 20 goals on Thursday, then the decision was made to shut him down.

“He’s been playing through a lot,” Lambert said.

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