VANCOUVER, BC – The LA Kings came to town and searching for answers to their offense and found them. But they left the Canucks with questions of their own.
Using special teams to generate offense in a tough arena the Kings built a 3-1 lead on a two shorthanded goals by Dustin Brown and a power play marker from Jarret Stoll.
For Vancouver, they have precious little time to find answers to their main question, what happened to the power play? They are 0-for10 with the man advantage in two games and the Kings potted two courtesy of Brown Friday night.
Dustin Brown – photo courtesy of NHL
In the LA net, Jonathan Quick was stellar in making key saves on touch shots from the usual suspects in the Vancouver lineup. He faced 48 shots on the night and seemed faster and more nimble in net than his counterpart, Roberto Luongo.
Luongo was beaten on a wrap around by Trevor Lewis that made him look slow.
For Vancouver, there were moments that suggested a strong game including Jannik Hansen’s goal in the early second.
The best move of the night was on Brown’s first goal. Anze Kopitar stole the broke as the Canucks’ power play was winding down. He chipped the puck off the stick of a Vancouver forward breaking out of the zone, chipped high and gloved it down to the ice before making a rush to the net for a shot on goal that Luongo stopped. But the rebound went to the high slot where Brown picked it up and wristed it home.
The series now heads to Los Angles where the Kings hope to hold serve and continue to dominate the Canucks in this first round series.
In the meantime, the Canucks need to get their power play cranked up if they want to move forward and challenge for a Cup this year.
Lou.Lafrado@prohockeynews.com
