They had been trying to secure a division title — which would be the second in franchise history — facing the Winnipeg Jets at Staples Center in their regular-season finale. Earlier in the day, the second-place Ducks kept the pressure on by winning at Colorado.
The Jets rallied from a three-goal deficit and defeated the Los Angeles Kings, 4-3, in a shootout on Saturday night. Winnipeg goalie Ondrej Pavelec stopped Anze Kopitar, Jeff Carter and Tyler Toffoli in the shootout, and Kings goalie Jonathan Quick denied Blake Wheeler with a poke check before Mark Scheifele won it with a wrist shot.
All this means that the Ducks-Capitals game on Sunday at Washington will have significance. Anaheim, trailing the Kings by a point in the Pacific Division, could finish first with a win over the Capitals. If the Kings win the division, they will play Nashville in the first round. A second-place finish would mean a first-round meeting with the San Jose Sharks.
“It’s unfortunate we let our goalie down tonight,” said Kings left wing Milan Lucic, who had one assist. “We didn’t take care of business to guarantee the Pacific Division. So we’ve got to wait around to see what’s going to happen tomorrow night and go from there.”
It had been all Kings until late in the second period. They came out strong with first-period goals by Toffoli and Tanner Pearson and one by Andy Andreoff in the second before the Jets rallied. It was Toffoli’s team-leading 31st goal of the season.
“We had the start that we wanted and for whatever reason, we stopped playing,” Kopitar said. “Obviously we made a bunch of turnovers that resulted into their goals. The start was good, but the second and third period were not very good.
The frustrating part is that we didn’t get the job done tonight. We certainly had every opportunity to win the division and, the bottom line (is), we didn’t do it.”
The Kings, who missed the playoffs last season, have won the division once before when Wayne Gretzky and company captured what was then called the Smythe Division in 1990-91.
This season was highlighted by the excellence of Quick. On Saturday, his shutout bid was ended late in the second period. The Jets found their legs and took advantage with a surge late in the second period, scoring twice in the last three minutes. Andrew Copp scored at 17:06 and Nikolaj Ehlers recorded his 15th of the season, cutting the Kings’ lead to 3-2 with 40.8 seconds remaining.
Wheeler tied it, 3-3, with his 26th goal of the season, at 3:21of the third period.
Quick didn’t have much work until late in the second period and he and the Kings remain solidly in the mix for the William Jennings Trophy with 194 goals allowed. Their two closest competitors are the Washington Capitals (191) and the Ducks (192). The award goes to “the goalkeeper(s) having played a minimum of 25 games for the team with the fewest goals scored against it.”
Playing positioning aside, the Kings were trying to sustain a stronger body of work in the last few days of the regular season.
“We wanted to build the last three games. We struggled pretty good coming down the stretch,” said Kings defenseman Rob Scuderi. “We had already clinched a playoff spot but you can’t just flip the switch right away in the playoffs. You want to be playing good hockey even if the wins and losses aren’t looking the bet.
“I thought the last game (against Anaheim on Thursday) was one of our better since I’ve been here, six, seven weeks. I thought it was real complete game. We just want to build off that. You want to do something when you get there,” he said. You can’t just hit cruise control and expect to turn it on in Game 1 of the playoffs ... .It’s best to prepare like you’re going to play tomorrow.

Red Wings clinch 25th straight playoff berth
The Detroit Red Wings are headed to the NHL’s Stanley Cup Playoffs for the 25th straight year despite falling 3-2 to the New York Rangers in their regular-season finale on Saturday.
Kevin Hayes scored with 5:38 remaining in the third period to help give the Rangers the victory.
But the Red Wings advanced to the post-season after the Boston Bruins were beaten 6-1 by the Ottawa Senators. Detroit clinched third place in the Atlantic Division and will face the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round.
They and the Philadelphia Flyers secured playoff spots to complete the 16-team post-season field on the last full day of regular-season action.
Two games that were postponed by snow were to be made up on Sunday, with the outcomes affecting some still-to-be-decided first-round playoff matchups.
After their home defeat by the Senators, the Bruins still had a playoff shot, but the Flyers put paid to that in Philadelphia.
The Flyers knew when the puck dropped that if they beat the Penguins they would punch their ticket, and Wayne Simmonds scored two goals to help them do it.
Goalie Steve Mason made 18 saves in the 3-1 win.
The Flyers will face the New York Islanders in their last game on Sunday, already knowing they’ll take on the Washington Capitals in the first round.
The Flyers-Islanders game will be watched with interest by the Penguins because it will help determine whether they face the Rangers or the Islanders.
The Red Wings were just relieved to keep their playoff streak alive, despite dropping their last two games.
“It feels good,” said center Henrik Zetterberg. “We had a chance by winning here to make the post-season. I thought we made a good effort. We had a lot of chances and couldn’t find the back of the net. “But I’m just going to send thanks to Ottawa. They showed up in Boston and played a good game.”

RESULTS
Ottawa       6 Boston       1       
NY Rangers   3 Detroit      2       
Philadelphia 3 Pittsburgh   1       
Anaheim      5 Colorado     3       
Montreal     5 Tampa Bay    2       
Florida      5 Carolina     2       
New Jersey   5 Toronto      1       
Columbus     5 Chicago      4 (OT)  
Buffalo      4 NY Islanders 3 (OT)