After dropping their first two games of the three-game divisional road trip, the Kings bounced back in impressive fashion with a convincing victory of the top team in Western Conference. Playing their third game in four nights, the Kings knocked off the Vancouver Canucks convincingly 5-1. The win against the Canucks on Thursday is just the first of four meeting between the two teams this season.
High danger chances were hard to come by in the first period for both teams, but worry not as the Kings struck for the game’s opening goal in the first 20. With 6:41 remaining in the first, a Trevor Moore middle lane drive opened up space for Kevin Fiala to feed Drew Doughty for a one-timer inside the blue line. Doughty stepped into the pass just seconds after getting onto the ice and blasted it past Thatcher Demko for his 14th goal of the season.
Into the second period, the Kings again won the 20-minute stanza by a score of 1-0. This goal coming from Anze Kopitar, a Canucks defensive zone turnover by Elias Pettersson supplied the Kings with an opportunity they would miss out on. In on the forecheck was Quinton Byfield, who found an open Kopitar in the soft spot of the Canucks defense. Kopitar’s goal marked his 18th of the season, but also picking up an assist on the play was Doughty, who tallied his 500th career assist. With the assist, Doughty became the 36th defenseman in NHL history and first defenseman in Kings history to reach the milestone of 500 assists.
The Kings took the 2-0 lead into the final 20, but things got interesting early. Just 2:55 into third period, Brock Boeser found the back of the net on the power play to cut the deficit in half. Now within a goal, the Canucks took a penalty of their own and the Kings responded with a power play goal of their own. Kopitar tallied his second point of the night just 1:28 after the Canucks goal with a beautiful backdoor pass to Kevin Fiala to push the Kings lead back to two goals. Retaking the two-goal lead was all the momentum that the Kings needed as they added a pair more of insurance goals in the last 7:30. First, it was Brandt Clarke who slotted back into the lineup when head coach Jim Hiller went with 11 forward and seven defensemen in the 20-man lineup on Thursday. Clarke took a backdoor feed from Byfield on a contested 2-on-1 and deked the puck past Demko for his second career goal. Then, just 3:07 later, Trevor Moore added his team-high 23rd goal on a breakaway to ice the victory.
Cam Talbot made his second consecutive start for the Kings and stopped 22 of 23 shots. In the other end of the ice, the Kings potted five goals on just 20 shots against Demko.
