Schneider shuts out the Kings
LOS ANGELES, CALIF.— Cory Schneider and the Vancouver Canucks handed the defending Stanley Cup champions their second straight shutout loss.
Schneider made 20 saves en route to his sixth NHL shutout and Mason Raymond scored in the first period as the Canucks beat the Los Angeles Kings 1-0 on Saturday for their third straight victory.
“It was a close game, and not a lot of offence exchanged both ways, but we’ll take it any way we can get it,” Raymond said. “We didn’t have a lot of shots, but I thought we played well defensively for the most part.”
The Kings, coming off a 2-0 home loss to Dallas on Thursday in which they had 40 shots, were blanked for the third time this season. It is the first time they have been shut out in consecutive games since Feb. 16-18, 2012, when they sustained a pair of 1-0 home losses.
“That’s a team that plays with a lot of confidence,” Schneider said. “After what they accomplished last year, I’m sure they feel like they’re in every single game — and they have the talent to do so. They kept coming at us.”
Before these two blankings, the Kings were averaging four goals a game at home.
“We’re not making it hard enough on the opposing team’s goaltenders,” captain Dustin Brown said. “We’ve gone through spurts this year where we’ve scored a lot of goals, and it was just a result of getting the puck to the net with bodies at the same time. The power play has been a big source of our offence, and we had only one shot (on two opportunities).”
Schneider has played the last three games for the Canucks, facing 88 shots and allowing only three goals. His other shutout this season was on Jan. 26, when he made 30 saves in a 5-0 victory at Anaheim.
“I feel like I should be and where I can be,” Schneider said. “It’s nice to have consecutive efforts in a row like that. When you have a good one and then a bad one, it’s a little frustrating.”
The Canucks, who lost to the Kings in the opening round of last year’s playoffs, won two of the three meetings this season and lost the other in a shootout.