Seattle Kraken play spoiler again, beat playoff-bound Kings

The Kraken have been eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs and are looking forward to a high draft pick this summer. Counterproductive to the latter cause, they keep on winning.

They played the spoiler again Monday and improved to 3-0 on a five-game road trip, hanging on for a 2-1 victory over the playoff-bound L.A. Kings.

Early on, Quinton Byfield scored a one-handed stunner for L.A.

While tangled with Seattle center Shane Wright right off a faceoff and drifting backward toward Joey Daccord’s net, Byfield shook his stick arm free. He batted the puck out of midair and pulled it around Daccord to score, precise and controlled even without his other hand to steady the shot. The Kings led less than two minutes into the game.

With less than two minutes remaining in that same first period, the Kraken managed to tie the game and take the lead. Defenseman Jamie Oleksiak centered the puck into the crease, which contained overcommitted L.A. goalie Darcy Kuemper and lurking Seattle center Matty Beniers. Beniers scored his 19th of the season from close range.

Defenseman Brandon Montour then hit a career high with his 17th goal of the season. The Kraken were playing four-on-four with 31 seconds left before the first intermission. That turned into the unlikely winner.

Kraken winger Eeli Tolvanen enjoyed a pair of second-period breakaways but the scoreboard still read 2-1. Kuemper’s 26 saves and Daccord’s 28 stops had a lot to do with that.

The St. Louis Blues have been the talk of the Western Conference thanks to a franchise-record, 12-game win streak that ended Monday after launching them back into a wild-card spot. That run overshadowed a stellar Kings spring. They had won 13 of 16 games since March 8 and four straight heading into the Kraken game. L.A. has already clinched a playoff spot.