Ryan Miller, Canucks hold off Kings

VANCOUVER -- The Vancouver Canucks eased goaltender Ryan Miller into their game against the Los Angeles Kings at Rogers Arena on Wednesday before leaning on him in the second and third periods.
Miller made 30 of his 36 saves over the final 40 minutes to help the Canucks defeat the Kings 2-1.
"The first period was nice," Miller said.
The next two were busy.

Tanner Pearson scored for the Kings with 3:17 left in the third period, preventing Miller from his first shutout since Oct. 13, 2015.
WATCH: All Kings vs. Canucks highlights
But Miller was concerned only with the win after the Canucks lost their previous two games 4-1. He credited his defense for limiting the quality of the shots, if not the quantity.
"We were above the puck. They didn't have too much as far as odd-man rushes," Miller said. "It was a clean game as far as that goes, and that's the kind of game you have to have to beat L.A."
Loui Eriksson and Henrik Sedin scored for the Canucks (15-18-3), who won for the third time in the past nine games despite being outshot 31-8 after the first period.
"It's definitely important," Eriksson said. "[Miller] made some great saves for us. We kept a lot of shots from the outside as well. Hopefully, we can build on this one."

Peter Budaj made 18 saves for the Kings (17-14-4), who are 3-3-2 through eight of nine straight road games. Los Angeles plays at the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday.
The Kings killed 26 straight penalties over 10 games dating to Dec. 4, but the Canucks ended the streak when Eriksson scored at 2:43 of the first period to make it 1-0. The goal came on the first of three straight Kings penalties that helped Vancouver outshoot the Los Angeles 12-6 in the period.
"We took a couple penalties, they scored on the first one on a lost draw, so you are chasing it right away," Kings coach Darryl Sutter said. "We got stronger as the game went on, that's for sure."
Sedin made it 2-0 on a deflection 23 seconds into the second period. Troy Stecher's shot from the blue line bounced twice before Sedin tipped it between Budaj's legs.
"Their winning goal was pretty lucky," Kings defenseman Drew Doughty said. "I thought we deserved a little better in that game but you have to play well for 60 minutes in this League to win games."

Goal of the game

Eriksson took a between-the-legs pass from Bo Horvat in the corner and skated to the front of the net unchecked before beating Budaj on the far side past the blocker. "Their defenseman got a little bit aggressive on Bo. He made a great pass," Eriksson said. "They gave me lots of room."

Save of the game

With 1:14 left in the second period, Miller made a sprawling right-pad save to take an empty net away from Anze Kopitar on a rebound chance from just above the crease. "It skipped under (my pad) and hit the top of my laces on my skate," Miller said. "It hit so hard it could have gone in. It could have gone anywhere."

Unsung performance of the game

Alexander Edler returned after missing 13 games with a broken finger and played 20:43 despite not taking any of his usual shifts on the power play. Vancouver's top defenseman had one hit, one takeaway and two blocked shots, and he got 1:59 in shorthanded ice time. "He made such a difference," coach Willie Desjardins said. "I don't think we get the win without Edler coming in."

Highlight of the game

Budaj pushed hard across his crease to rob Sven Baertschi with his right pad on a backdoor power-play chance with 7:40 left in the first period.

They said it

"I just think we don't have a lot of scoring in our lineup, especially with Tyler [Toffoli] out. You get down one, you are fine, but you get down two, you are playing a different game." -- Kings coach Darryl Sutter after they struggled to score on the same day Toffoli (lower body) went on injured reserve
"I have been getting my looks, but it's a goal like that, that goes off a stick and flutters over top, that's the one to break it." -- Kings forward Tanner Pearson on ending his 15-game goal drought
"They came at us a little bit more, but I didn't think they had an awful lot of great chances. They had lots from the outside, but I thought we did a good job protecting the home plate."-- Canucks coach Willie Desjardins on being outshot 31-8 the second and third periods

Need to know

Kings forward Devin Setoguchi played his 500th NHL game.

What's next

Canucks: Host the Anaheim Ducks on Friday (10 p.m. ET; SNP, FS-W, NHL.TV)
Kings:At the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday (9 p.m. ET; SNW, FS-W, NHL.TV)