Five straight playoff berths for the LA Kings.
With tonight’s victory over Seattle, combined with a 3-2 win by the San Jose Sharks over Nashville earlier in the evening, the Kings have secured their place in the Western Conference playoff field, the 16th team and final team around the NHL to clinch, locking in the 2026 playoff field. Today was the team’s first chance to clinch, needing both results to get the job done. After San Jose secured the two points during the first intermission of the Kings/Kraken game, with Los Angeles leading 2-0, the Kings added an insurance goal from forward Trevor Moore in the second period and rode the three-goal advantage through 40 minutes to a win in Seattle, despite a goal against early in the third.
So What Do We Know
The Kings are in and playoff tickets are on sale tomorrow.
The Kings will release playoff ticketing information tomorrow, at lakings.com/playoffs. The Kings will have a minimum of two additional home games this season, meaning Saturday’s 1-0 win won’t be the final time playing on home ice.
It also means that game will not be the final game in Los Angeles for Anze Kopitar. Kopitar is in his final season in the NHL and his last game, win or lose, will be a meaningful one, in pursuit of a Stanley Cup. It’s what he’s hoped for the entire way and what his teammates have hoped for on his behalf. They all earned that with tonight’s victory and clinch.
At this time, that is just about all we know.
So What Don’t We Know
The who, what, where, when and why. Pretty much everything.
Round 1 Opponent
The Kings were the 16th and final team to secure their playoff berth but they could finish in one of five different seeds in the Western Conference. Kinda miraculous when you think about how this season has done. Imagine two weeks ago saying that the Kings had any chance to win the Pacific Division. But they do and that’s where we’re at.
The Kings are currently in the second wild-card position in the Western Conference, but three available positions in front of them are still attainable. The Kings still play twice more – tomorrow in Vancouver and Thursday in Calgary – and have a maximum of 93 points that they can earn. To move up, they’ll need some help. But Edmonton (91), Anaheim (90) and Utah (90) are all within reach. The Kings can not catch Vegas and therefore can not win the Pacific Division, though they could still secure the second spot with two wins and some help in other games. The two teams could finish even on 93 points, but the Golden Knights hold the tiebreaker.
Right now, the Kings would be on track to take on the Colorado Avalanche in the first round, though pending results from tonight around the league, all four of those other teams are also potential options as Round 1 opponents. Expect to see those options narrow as the week progresses. Colorado is the most-likely option still but lots can happen between now and Thursday.
Round 1 Schedule
Though it would require a decent amount of help, the Kings could still potentially open the playoffs on home ice, if they could pass two of the three aforementioned teams. The Kings would not open on Saturday, April 18 as the Lakers are scheduled to play against Houston in their playoff opener, so you’d likely be looking at Sunday, April 19 or Monday, April 20 in those scenarios.
With several options still on the table, both with Game 1 coming at home and on the road, a Round 1 schedule likely will not be known for a few days still, perhaps not even until Friday. Much can happen between now and then, which will determine exactly when and where the Kings will get underway. In a pre-release of the national broadcast schedule, the NHL looks like it is set to have three games played on Saturday and four more on Sunday, which leaves one series to begin on Monday. Kings are unlikely to fall into that Saturday slot, since they play their final regular-season game on Thursday, so look for a Sunday or Monday start regardless of where they wind up on the seeding front.
As always, the series will follow a 2-2-1-1-1 format, with the higher-seeded team hosting Games 1, 2, 5 and 7 and the lower-seeded team hosting Games 3, 4 and 6. We just don’t know which team the Kings will be at this time.
Coming along with the series schedule will be a broadcast schedule that includes both local and national options. For US-based teams, the first round of the postseason is broadcast both locally by the FanDuel Sports Network crew and nationally by ESPN and Turner Sports. With the Los Angeles Angels season ongoing, the Kings could see their games split locally between Bally Sports West, Bally Sports So-Cal and potentially KCAL, while the national games will broadcast on ESPN or Turner channels.
All to be determined as we learn more about the postseason matchups.
For now, let’s take step back and marvel a bit at what happened. This always felt like a Game 82 situation, especially for this team. A 2-2 game in the third period, needing to win in overtime felt like the fitting ending. A five-game winning streak and a 6-0-1 record over their last seven games changed that narrative just a bit. Got hot at the right time and got the job done. Two more to play, with lots of importance, beginning tomorrow versus Vancouver.
