Kings score 6 to cruise past Ducks, gain in Pacific race

LOS ANGELES -- Kevin Fiala scored twice on the power play, and the Los Angeles Kings increased their lead for second place in the Pacific Division with a 6-1 win against the Anaheim Ducks at Crypto.com Arena on Thursday.

The Kings moved four points ahead of the Edmonton Oilers with four games remaining. The Vegas Golden Knights, who won 2-1 against the Seattle Kraken on Thursday, lead the division by six points over Los Angeles, which has one game in hand.

“Obviously, points we needed, and keep pushing on trying to get home ice,” said Kings defenseman Mikey Anderson, who had two assists.

Quinton Byfield and Anze Kopitar each had a goal and an assist, and Andrei Kuzmenko and Adrian Kempe each had three assists for the Kings (45-24-9), who have won five of six. Darcy Kuemper made 24 saves.

“Sometimes they don’t go in, like last game (a 2-1 loss to the Kraken on Monday), for example,” Fiala said. “We had so many chances, so many shots, hit bars and whatever, and we only scored one. And today, it turned.

“That’s another reason we just have to stay on it, continue what we’re doing. Believe in the system, believe in us, believe in what we’re doing, and just keep on going. Keep it going, and eventually it’s going to go in.”

Cutter Gauthier scored in his third straight for the Ducks (35-36-8), who had won two in a row, including a 4-3 overtime victory against the Calgary Flames on Wednesday. Lukas Dostal made 23 saves.

“L.A.’s got a good team, they’re getting ready for playoffs,” said Gauthier, who reached the 20-goal mark. “We can blame it on back to back or whatever the case is, our legs were tired, but there’s no excuses for that.”

Byfield gave Los Angeles a 1-0 lead on the power play 1:24 into the first period, scoring with a one-timer from the slot off a feed from Kuzmenko. It was his 21st goal of the season, an NHL career high.

Gauthier tied it 1-1 at 1:46 of the second period on a one-timer in the right circle off a feed from Leo Carlsson. He has five goals during his three-game streak.

Kopitar scored 31 seconds later by tipping Anderson's shot to put the Kings back up 2-1.

Fiala made it 3-1 at 5:30 with a power-play goal on a one-timer from just outside the top of the right circle.

“Obviously, you want it cooking this time of year,” Anderson said of the power play. “They’ve maybe had some ups and downs, they’ll probably tell you that too, but it’s a good time for them to find a groove, find some success. And good for them, but good for the team going forward.”

Alex Laferriere extended it to 4-1 at 16:34 on a backhand from the slot through traffic. The Ducks unsuccessfully challenged that Laferriere played the puck with a high stick in the buildup.

Fiala pushed it to 5-1 with Los Angeles’ third power-play goal at 1:08 of the third period. He beat Dostal with a one-timer from the right circle.

The Kings were 3-for-6 on the power play. The Ducks were 0-for-4.

“They got a really skilled power play,” Gauthier said. “They moved the puck well. They play a little bit of a spread-like, something we haven’t really seen too much of recently, but they got a lot of good players. Kudos to them on a good performance, but we got to dial it in on the PK.”

Jordan Spence scored on a slap shot from the right point at 10:47 for the 6-1 final.

NOTES: Kopitar reached the 20-goal mark for the third straight season and 14th time in his 19-season NHL career. He is the ninth player born outside North America with 14 or more 20-goal seasons, joining Alex Ovechkin (20), Jaromir Jagr (19), Teemu Selanne (17), Mats Sundin (17), Evgeni Malkin (15), Marian Hossa (15), Peter Bondra (14) and Stan Mikita (14). … Kuemper joined Miikka Kiprusoff as the second goaltender to allow two goals or fewer in at least 15 straight starts since the NHL expanded in 1967-68. Kiprusoff had a 16-game streak in 2003-04. … The Kings are 38-0-2 when scoring three or more goals this season. … Ducks defenseman Jacob Trouba returned after missing three games because of an upper-body injury. He had one shot on goal in 19:06 of ice time.