On the final stop of their three-game California road trip, the Vancouver Canucks faced the Los Angeles Kings. Led again by another multipoint game by their captain Quinn Hughes, who put up a goal and an assist, they won their sixth straight on the road by a score of 4-2.
Game Recap
The action started quickly for the Kings as Quinton Byfield opened the scoring 1:43 into the game. Busting down the left wing with speed after a turnover by Canucks defenceman Vincent Desharnais, he cut in front of Kevin Lankinen and backhanded home his second of the season. Everything was going well for the home team until Tanner Jeannot got handed a match penalty after a hit to the head of Brock Boeser. Boeser was visibly shaken up on the play, went to the dressing room and did not return to the game. The Canucks almost went the entire five-minute power play without testing Darcy Kuemper, but after a backdoor pass was misfired by Conor Garland, the Kings goaltender swept it into his own net to hand Garland his fourth. The first period ended with the score knotted at one.
It was the Canucks’ turn to score early as they took a 2-1 lead 5:51 into the second thanks to a beautiful connection between Quinn Hughes and Jake DeBrusk. Hughes started the play at the blue line with his elite edgework, confusing the Kings Akil Thomas and feeding DeBrusk wide open at the right side of the net. He then deked Kuemper in tight and potted his third in three games. He is now on a three-game goal streak after starting the season without any in his first nine games. There wasn’t any more scoring in the period, but the Kings lost Mikey Anderson to an injury after getting hit up high by a Filip Hronek shot. He didn’t return for the third, and now both teams are hoping for good news in the coming days.
Similar to the second period, the Canucks scored early in the third to increase their lead to 3-1. Hughes was at it again with his edgework and puck handling as he gave himself room at the point and wristed it through a J.T. Miller screen for his third of the season only 2:44 into the final frame. The Kings cut the lead to 3-2 later in the period from a seeing-eye shot by Vladislav Gavrikov, but that’s as close as they would get as the Canucks added an empty netter by Miller in the final minutes.
With the win, Lankinen improved his record to 7-0-2 to start the season and finished with 25 saves. At the other end, Kuemper stopped 19 in a losing cause.
The Canucks will now return home to Vancouver to start a six-game homestand starting with the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday. The Kings are also in action as they will face the Columbus Blue Jackets in the final test of their brief two-game stay at Crypto.com Arena.
