Having collected five points in three games during a critical road swing, the Kings returned home for a pair of rematches from the trip, beginning with a showdown with the Calgary Flames on Monday night at Crypto.com Arena.

They’ll seek to gain ground on the first-place Flames and win the three-game season series in their final meeting with Calgary (40-19-9). In the first two matchups, the Kings (38-23-10) and Flames proved it was indeed a “3-2 league” as Calgary and former Kings coach Darryl Sutter was fond of saying. The Flames prevailed 3-2 on Dec. 2 and the Kings won by an identical margin in a shootout that followed a sinewy third period on Thursday in which the Kings blew a lead and then tied the game late.

The Kings’ performance on the trip brought them to within three points of Calgary, which has lost three straight games. The Kings went 2-0-1 on their Western Canadian sojourn.

“Five out of six points is a pretty good road trip,” defenseman Sean Durzi said. “We knew coming in that good teams find a way and we believe that we’re a good team.”

Against Winnipeg, the Kings scored shorthanded, on the power-play and at even strength. They killed all six penalties they took and were dangerous while a man down even beyond Adrian Kempe’s goal. Anze Kopitar also scored, as did Gabe Vilardi, giving the Kings not only a goal in each situation but one from each level of experience on their roster.

They also withstood a late push from the Jets, including blocked shots by their two top centers, Kopitar and Phillip Danault, who also combined for three points. The Flames and Kings’ respective goal differentials are separated by a whopping 64 tallies, but the Kings have won nearly as much as Calgary due to timely play, determination and selflessness.

“I think it was [Kings executive] Marc Bergevin that told me the other day that there’s statistical hockey and then there’s winning hockey,” Kings coach Todd McLellan said. “What’s nice about most of our guys is that they want to play winning hockey. They don’t give a you-know-what about their stats, they just want to win. It’s in our DNA.”

Kopitar played his 1200th game and another veteran, defenseman Alex Edler, extended his point streak to three games. He has four points in those matches since returning to the lineup from a pair of healthy scratches. Earlier in the season, Edler, 35, battled back from a broken ankle that he sustained in a grisly fall near the boards.

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The Kings remained without four defensemen (Mikey Anderson, Drew Doughty, Matt Roy, and Sean Walker) and three wingers (Andreas Athanasiou, Dustin Brown and Brendan Lemieux) during their journey.

On deck await the Flames, who are led by winger Johnny Gaudreau. His 26 points in the month of March were tied for second in the NHL, trailing only Nashville defenseman Roman Josi. He ranks fourth for the campaign with 92 points in 68 games. Winger Matthew Tkachuk and forward Elias Lindholm have both exceeded a point-per-game pace, while a reconfigured defense corps has aided goalie Jacob Markstrom’s cause. The towering Swede has more than done his part for Calgary as well. He ranks eighth in wins, fifth in save percentage, third in goals-against average and first in shutouts league-wide.

CALGARY AT KINGS

When: Monday, 7:30 p.m.

Where: Crypto.com Arena

TV/Radio: Bally Sports West / iHeartRadio