LOS ANGELES – The Canucks made some changes to their line-up and added Daniel Sedin back to the mix when re turned from a concussion. The result was a well-played, well-deserved 3-1 win over the Kings on Wednesday night.
Cory Schneider was in net in place of Roberto Luongo and seemingly cemented his place as the starter for Vancouver in the first round.
At the other end of the ice, Jonathan Quick was his usual self and played well but was victimized by long rebounds and screens in front of the net.
Anze Kopitar got things going early in the game when he chased the puck down along the far boards and over-powered the Canucks’ Mason Raymond and picked up the puck ending with a writer over Schneider’s glove.
While that may have been enough in the first three games of this series it was not the case Wednesday.
Alexander Edler got the Canucks power play going with a wrist shot of his own in the second at 4:07. Quick was screened on his left side and never saw the puck coming from the point.
Kevin Bieksa put Vancouver up 2-1 with a shot from the far boards. The key to the play was the Sedns heading to the net and bracing Quick on either side. The distractions of the screen again left Quick with no chance to stop the puck.
In the third, Dustin Brown had an opportunity to tie the game at 2 when he was hauled down on a Vancouver power play. He was awarded a penalty shot but Schneider gave him nothing to shoot at and the puck was easily blocked off by a sliding pad save.
Just 22 seconds later Henrik Sedin iced the game with the second power play goal of the game for Vancouver.
Game 5 is Sunday in Vancouver. The pressure is now squarely on the Kings to end the series now. For the Canucks, they avoided the sweep and now get to play one game each night.
Contact Lou.Lafrado@prohockeynews.com
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