Sven Baertschi carries Canucks past Kings

LOS ANGELES -- Sven Baertschi had two goals and Ryan Miller made 41 saves to help the Vancouver Canucks to a 4-3 win against the Los Angeles Kings at Staples Center on Saturday.
Nikolay Goldobin and Henrik Sedin also scored and Bo Horvat had three assists for Vancouver (27-30-7), which held on in the third period and ended a four-game losing streak.

WATCH: All Canucks vs. Kings highlights
"[The Kings] played well in the second period, we got some breaks in the second," Canucks coach Willie Desjardins said. "It wasn't like we were playing that well in the second. But we capitalized on our chances, which was good. It was good to see Goldobin score on that one, Horvat took it to the net and we got a break on that one. We did some things well to get those goals, but coming back, we just took too many penalties in the third which cost us."
Anze Kopitar, Trevor Lewis and Alec Martinez scored for Los Angeles (31-28-6), which remained one point ahead of the St. Louis Blues for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. The Blues have two games in hand.
Ben Bishop made 17 saves.
"On the score sheet we may be close, but it really, the first two periods, it was nowhere near close to our game, and nowhere near close to being good enough," Kopitar said. "It's disappointing. We're going to have to regroup for next week. The first two periods, there were odd-man rushes against, more often than not. That's definitely not the way we want to play, or the way we should play in order to win. We have to take a look at that and get better."

Baertschi scored at 11:37 of the first period when he put Loui Eriksson's rebound past Bishop to give the Canucks a 1-0 lead. Sedin made it 2-0 with 1:32 remaining in the first.
"It's tough when you get two unlucky bounces off your own guys," said Bishop, who made his second start with the Kings since being acquired from the Tampa Bay Lightning. "The guys fought back there, just too little too late. Obviously, if those two don't go in, it could be a 3-2 game for us. It's a long season. There's a lot of bounces, sometimes they don't go your way. Tonight was that way."
Baertschi scored again at 6:38 of the second period, his 15th of the season, to make it 3-0.
Goldobin, who was acquired from the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday, made it 4-0 when he scored on a breakaway at 12:43 of the second for his first goal with the Canucks and second of his NHL career.
"It feels great. It was a nice win and I'm happy to play this first game for a first win," Goldobin said.
Kopitar scored a power-play goal with 3:20 left in the second to make it 4-1.
Lewis scored a power-play goal at 12:03 of the third period, and Martinez scored shorthanded with 1:21 remaining.

Goal of the game

Goldobin took a pass from Ben Hutton across center ice, outraced the defense and beat Bishop with a shot from close range.

Save of the game

With the Canucks leading 2-0, Kings forward Adrian Kempe seized control of the puck from Alexander Edler and quickly put a shot on goal, but Miller came out to challenge and made the save 1:55 into the second period.

Highlight of the game

On a rush down the left side, Henrik Sedin tried to pass the puck to Edler, who was parked to Bishop's left. But Sedin's attempt deflected off Drew Doughty's stick and got past Bishop.

Unsung performance of the game

Canucks defenseman Chris Tanev had an assist, six blocked shots and two hits in 22:56.

They said it

"There were a couple turnovers which resulted in odd-man rushes, which ended up with pucks in the net." -- Kings coach Darryl Sutter
"That line's a good line. They've got some good pieces to it. [Horvat] plays hard, [Eriksson] is starting to pick up his game and starting to play better. And I think Baertschi has played well since he's come back [from an upper-body injury], so it's nice for that line to get rewarded." -- Canucks coach Willie Desjardins

Need to know

Horvat has 10 points (four goals, six assists) in his past nine games. … Martinez scored the first shorthanded goal of his NHL career. … Kopitar scored his third goal in the past two games. He has eight this season. … Kempe, who had two assists, had his first NHL multipoint game.

What's next

Canucks: At the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday (8 p.m. ET; SN, TVA Sports, PRIME, NHL.TV)
Kings: Host the Nashville Predators on Thursday (10:30 p.m.; SN360, SNO, FS-W, FS-TN, NHL.TV)