Kings take momentum up to Canada
Hoping to catapult off their clean sweep of a three-game homestand, the Kings traveled to Western Canada for four critical clashes, beginning with a visit to the Pacific Division-topping Vancouver Canucks tonight.
Kings interim coach Jim Hiller hails from Port Alberni, British Columbia, about 150 kilometers west of Vancouver. Beyond his B.C. roots, Hiller had more substantive reasons for his enthusiasm about the third of four meetings with the Canucks after a 5-1 win in Vancouver on Feb. 29 and a 2-1 overtime loss at home on March 5.
“We've had two great games with Vancouver this year. We played very well in Van, they got us here. I thought they played better than us in our building,” Hiller said. “So, I'm looking forward to that, that's going to be a real good game.”
After dispensing with Connor Bedard and his largely unremarkable supporting cast from Chicago, the Kings turned their attention to an ailing Minnesota squad that was nevertheless on an eightgame
The Kings' Mikey Anderson celebrates after scoring against the Lightning. points streak and then staved off a late rally from battle-tested Tampa Bay. They edged the Lightning 4-3 with a goal early in overtime after allowing two late goals to Bolts captain Steven Stamkos in the final five minutes of the match.
“We've had a couple of different games recently where we've been able to score a lot and haven't given up any, so being in a tighter game, which is the way games are going to go down the stretch, I think it's good to be a part of it, to feel it and find a way to come out on top,” defenseman Mikey Anderson said. “This road trip's going to be a huge one, so it helps having a few wins going into it and feeling good about our game.”
The stretch will not include any back-to-back games when it takes the Kings to Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary before concluding in Winnipeg next Monday. They've lost two of three to the Oilers while splitting with the Flames and Jets to date. They'll face Calgary once more, at home on April 11, but this will be the rubber match against the Jets, the former team of Kings forward Pierre-Luc Dubois. He has cobbled together his best stretches as a King with six points in five games (currently) and five in four (during February) since the All-Star break.
Dubois and linemate Alex Laferriere have been joined by Viktor Arvidsson for the past two games since he returned from a lower-body injury. In the small sample of games in which Arvidsson has donned a Kings sweater this season, they've gone 6-0-0.
“We all love Arvy here,” forward Quinton Byfield said. “Off the ice, he's a great guy who does everything right, and he's a lot of fun. On the ice, you see the plays he makes.”
Although Arvidsson has proven to be more than a rabbit's foot — he has four points and joined the top power-play unit — Vancouver's good fortune has spanned most of the season. They'd lost consecutive games just twice before they experienced a four-game dip last month. They've gone 7-1-1 in their past nine games, and entered the week on a threegame winning streak.
While the Kings' Kevin Fiala, Adrian Kempe and Anze Kopitar went into the matchup in a threeway tie atop the team scoring race with 62 points apiece, the Canucks have three players who crossed the 80-point threshold already. J.T. Miller, Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes have provided the voltage while former Junior King Thatcher Demko has blacked out opposing offenses. In Demko and Winnipeg's Connor Hellebuyck, the Kings could face two of the three most likely Vezina Trophy finalists on their northern journey.
UP NEXT Today: Kings at Canucks, 6 p.m., BSW