March 17th, 2017

The Kings kept their fading playoff hopes alive on Thursday night at Staples Center with a 2-0 win over the Buffalo Sabres.

The game was scoreless until the 3rd period when Jerome Iginla got the Kings on the board 36 seconds into the final frame.  It was Iginla’s 3rd goal since being traded to the Kings, which was set up by the hard work of Anze Kopitar and Dustin Brown.

About 14 minutes later, rookie Adrian Kempe scored his second goal as King with a beautiful wrist shot from the right circle.  Brown earned his second assist of the game on the play.

Jonathan Quick would slam the door after that.  The Kings netminder made 26 saves and earned his 1st shutout of the season.

The win helped the Kings keep pace with the St. Louis Blues, who defeated the Sharks on Thursday to remain 4 points ahead of LA in the race for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.  Both teams have 12 games left.

“We need to win every game,” forward Tyler Toffoli said earlier this week. “We need to get rolling here and find a way to get two points in all these games coming up.”

LA finished their 7 game home stand with a 4-2-1 record, which sounds good, but not under the circumstances.  The Kings started the homestand just 2 points out of a playoff spot, and now they are 4 points back after critical losses to the Blues and Coyotes.

Now the Kings hit the road for two more critical games.  The first comes Sunday night at Calgary, followed by Monday night in Edmonton.  Perhaps one of the few bright spots for LA in their chase for the final playoff spot is that they have a total of 6 games remaining against the Flames and Oilers, who can still be caught before the season is over.