Third-period surge powers Kings to win over Utah
April 4 - Kevin Fiala and Trevor Moore scored 44 seconds apart in the third period to help the visiting Los Angeles Kings to a 4-2 win against the Utah Hockey Club on Thursday in Salt Lake City.
Drew Doughty had a goal and an assist, Adrian Kempe also scored and Darcy Kuemper made 28 saves for Los Angeles (43-23-9, 95 points), which has won three in a row to help hold off the Edmonton Oilers for second place in the Pacific Division.
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.
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 shot the puck into the net.
Moore was then the first player down the ice for a puck that went deep in the Utah zone, and he beat Vejmelka one-one-one to make it 3-1 at 4:50.
Doughty collected an 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 Los Angeles 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 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.
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