Mikhail Sergachev had four assists, and Nick Schmaltz and Jack McBain scored for the Mammoth (38-30-6), who had lost their past two. Clayton Keller had two assists, and Karel Vejmelka made 29 saves.
“We’ve almost got, like, a youthful excitement to our team, where we haven’t had any scars,” Kerfoot said. “For the most part, we’re not scared of much, not scared of failing, and so we just got to kind of enjoy the moment, keep that as long as we can, realize that these are hard games to win, and the job is far from done, but we’re in a good spot.”
Utah is five points ahead of the Nashville Predators for the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.
Adrian Kempe had a goal and an assist, and Anze Kopitar scored for the Kings (29-26-18), who have lost five of six (1-2-3).
Darcy Kuemper allowed five goals on 16 shots before being replaced at the start of the third period by Anton Forsberg, who made 11 saves.
Los Angeles, which began a season-long seven-game homestand, remained one point behind the Predators for the second wild card into the playoffs.
“I can tell you this, people say it’s luck and there’s bounces. You make your own luck in this world,” Kings interim coach D.J. Smith said. “You do it right long enough, things happen. We didn’t come ready to play good enough today.
Kerfoot, Cooley each scores twice, Mammoth cruise past Kings to pad Western wild-card lead
