Brown helps Kings overcome Canucks

VANCOUVER: Dustin Brown and the Los Angeles Kings gave coach Willie Desjardins a victory in his return to Vancouver.

Brown scored 53 seconds into overtime to lift the Kings over the Canucks 2-1 on Tuesday night. Alex Iafallo scored for Los Angeles in regulation, and Calvin Petersen made 32 saves.

Desjardins returned to Rogers Arena as a head coach for the first time since the Canucks fired him at the end of the 2016-17 season. He received a mix of cheers and jeers from the crowd when his face was shown on the big video screen before the game.

“Whenever you come back in here, there’s lots of good guys in that room over there and I know that,” said Desjardins, who took over in Los Angeles when John Stevens was dismissed this month. “And I know they hate to lose as well, but I certainly enjoyed a win.” Brown assisted on Iafallo’s goal, and Anze Kopitar had two assists for the Kings.

Markus Granlund tied the game for the Canucks with 3:43 to go in the third period. Jacob Markstrom stopped 23 shots.

“Obviously, they have a heavy team,” Granlund said. “I think we needed more speed and more legs to get more goals.” Desjardins thought Petersen helped set the tone early by making a couple of “outstanding” saves.

“For a young guy to come in and do that is pretty impressive,” the coach said.

Vancouver spent a lot of time in the Kings end in the third period, outshooting them 13-6. But there weren’t a ton of great chances, Petersen said.

“The whole time it was our game to win and I think it was just a matter of time, really,” said Petersen, who earned his fourth win of the season.

“Obviously when they get one that late in the game it could be deflating, but I think we have been through too much as a team to let stuff like that continue to bother us. It showed in the overtime. We controlled the play and luckily we were rewarded.” The 24-year-old’s calm demeanor in net has helped the Kings this year, Brown said.