In Los Angeles Monday night, the Kings moved a bit closer to the top spot in the Pacific with a win over the Vancouver Canucks, 5-1.
Jeff Carter scored his 300th NHL goal in win over Canucks – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
Jeff Carter led the way with two goals.
“We probably played better against Anaheim (a 3-2 loss on Saturday) than we did tonight, but, you know what? It’s a big division game and they’re four points,” Kings coach Darryl Sutter said. “We get some separation again between us and the fourth-place team.”
The Anaheim Ducks lost Monday, 2-1, in a shootout and now lead the Pacific by a point over the Kings.
Dan Hamhuis scored the lone Canucks goal.
“Against this team, you have to prepare to play a grinding game,” Canucks forward Daniel Sedin said. “We did, but not for a full 60 minutes.”
Jonathan Quick made 21 saves in picking up the win for LA.
Vincent Lecavalier, Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty also scored for the Kings; Kopitar’s goal was on the power play.
“Obviously, the power play has been scoring a lot lately, so we’ve been happy with that, but our penalty kill’s been something that we’ve been a little concerned about,” Doughty told LA Kings Insider. “We haven’t been where we need to be, and tonight we were.”
Ryan Miller made 24 saves for Vancouver in the loss.
“It was frustrating,” Miller said. “Two of their shots hit me hard and trickled through me. I needed to be better.”
Carter’s second goal of the game was his 300th NHL goal.
“It’s good,” Carter said of the milestone. “It’s nice to get a couple goals, it’s been a while. It was a big win for us. These division games are huge and we need these points, so it was a good one for us.”
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