clinch

SEATTLE — Quinton Byfield scored twice, Anton Forsberg made 28 saves and the Kings secured a playoff spot with Monday night’s 5-3 win over the Seattle Kraken.

Trevor Moore, Adrian Kempe and Alex Laferriere also scored for the Kings, who won their fifth straight and are playoff-bound for the fifth consecutive season.

With two games left, the Kings are in position for the second Western Conference wild card and fourth in the Pacific Division, just two points behind second-place Edmonton. The Kings’ victory, combined with Nashville’s loss to San José earlier Monday night, wrapped up their playoff spot and eliminated both the Predators and the Sharks.

The Ducks also clinched a playoff berth, their first since 2018, by virtue of Nashville’s loss.

Adam Larsson, Frederick Gaudreau and Bobby McMann scored for Seattle, all in the third period. Nikke Kokko stopped 25 shots in his second career start. Matty Beniers had two assists.

Samuel Helenius and Seattle’s Jacob Melanson dropped the gloves with 7:57 to go in the first, and both earned five-minute majors. Their fight occurred just after the forwards finished serving matching roughing minors for an attempted altercation earlier in the period.

Byfield opened the scoring when a failed pinch by Ryan Lindgren allowed him to take off on a two-on-one rush. He added his 22nd goal later in the first period when a pass jumped Lindgren’s stick at the Kings’ blue line, leading to a breakaway that Byfield converted.

Moore scored on a rebound 7:13 into the second. The Kraken twice got within one goal in the third, but Laferriere’s empty-netter in the closing seconds ended their hopes.

Already eliminated from the playoffs, Seattle lost to the Kings for the first time this season and has not won three straight games since January.

Chet Holmgren had 30 points and 14 rebounds, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander added 20 points and 11 assists, and the Oklahoma City Thunder clinched the NBA’s best regular-season record with a 128-110 victory over the Clippers on Wednesday night.

Jalen Williams scored 18 points for the NBA champion Thunder (64-16), who will have home-court advantage throughout the postseason in their title defense after holding off San Antonio (61-19), which is on an 18-2 run since February. Oklahoma City has won seven straight and 19 of 20 to earn the West’s No. 1 seed for the third straight season.

Kawhi Leonard scored 20 points and Brook Lopez added 16 for the eighth-place Clippers, who had won seven of nine. The Clippers are 35-18 since shortly before Christmas, but still must win one of its final two games to extend this once-moribund franchise’s streak to 15 consecutive winning seasons.

The Clippers head to Portland on Friday for a crucial game. The winner almost certainly will finish eighth in the Western Conference, while the losers will slip to ninth, where they’ll need two wins in the play-in tournament to make the playoffs.

While Gilgeous-Alexander scored at least 20 points in his record 141st consecutive game despite sitting out the fourth quarter, Leonard scored at least 20 in his 56th straight game. Leonard also remained on track to play in at least 65 games this season — his second-most in seven years with the Clippers, and enough to qualify for All-NBA consideration.

Holmgren scored 24 points in the first half and propelled the Thunder to an early 25-point lead. Oklahoma City hit 58.1% of its shots and thoroughly stifled the Clippers’ offense, allowing no fast-break field goals.

Darius Garland sat out for the Clippers to manage his toe injury. He hasn’t played in back-to-back games since Los Angeles acquired him from Cleveland in a trade for James Harden.

Up next for the Clippers: At Portland on Friday.

Bristol: Rees-Zammit; Ravouvou, Moroni, Williams, Boshoff; Jordan, Randall; Genge, Oghre, Kloska; Dun, Owen, Luatua, Harding (c), S. Grondona.

Replacements: Gwilliam, Woolmore, Chawatama, Taylor, B. Grondona, Marmion, Janse van Rensburg, Ibitoye.

Harlequins: Benson; Isgro, Murley, Bradley, David; Evans, Townsend; Kerrod, Walker, Jones; Treadwell, Williams, Petti Pagadizabal, Kenningham, Dombrant (c).

Replacements: Riley, Hobson, Delgado, Green, Carr, Driscoll, Grant, Kerr.

Referee: Adam Leal