Kings lose key game against Flames, fall further behind in division

Johnny Gaudreau had two goals and an assist, and the Calgary Flames extended their lead in the Pacific Division with a 3-2 victory over the Kings on Monday night at Crypto.com Arena.

Elias Lindholm also scored for the Flames (41-19-9), who have 91 points and a five-point advantage over the second-place Kings (38-24-10) atop the division. Jacob Markstrom stopped 27 shots as Calgary ended a three-game losing streak.

Adrian Kempe scored two goals and Anze Kopitar collected two assists for the Kings, who had earned at least a point in five of their last six coming into the game. The Kings have 86 points and are only one point in front of the Edmonton Oilers for second place in the division.

Cal Petersen finished with 30 saves for the Kings.

Gaudreau scored 10 seconds into the game for Calgary’s fastest opening goal since 1987. The All-Star left wing then gave the Flames a 3-2 lead at 14:08 of the second period when he beat Petersen on a backhand after Ryan Carpenter forced a turnover deep in the offensive zone.

Lindholm tied it 65 seconds earlier when he buried it from the slot after Gaudreau fed him from behind the net.

Gaudreau — who has five multigoal games this season — has a goal in three consecutive games. He also has 30 points (14 goals, 16 assists) since March 1, which is tied with Edmonton’s Connor McDavid.

Kempe had his seventh multigoal game of the season. The Swedish center has scored 31 times for the first 30-goal season of his career, and he is the first Kings player to reach that mark since Kopitar in 2017-18.

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Kempe made it 1-all 13:56 into the first period on a one-timer from the right faceoff circle after getting the pass from Kopitar. Kempe then put the Kings ahead with 54 seconds remaining in the period on a snap shot into the far side of the net.

The Kings had a chance to send it into overtime after Calgary’s Matthew Tkachuk got a double-minor, high-sticking call with 2:03 remaining. The Kings pulled the goalie and had a two-skater advantage but couldn’t get the puck into the net.

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