Canucks cannot afford to make any egregious plays against Kings
VANCOUVER CANUCKS (39-17-7) AT LOS ANGELES KINGS (31-19-10)
When: Tonight, 7:30 p.m. Where: Crypto.com Arena TV: SN Pacific
Radio: Sportsnet 650
The buzz: Coaches often abide by The 90-minute Rule.
Players have that time frame to savour victory or get over a loss. For the Canucks, the sting of a telling 5-1 setback to the Kings on Thursday at Rogers Arena is like gum on their shoes, hard to remove.
It wasn't just one thing, it was everything. The opportunistic Kings looked playoff ready and executed a 60-minute effort. The Canucks didn't.
Frustrated head coach Rick Tocchet even reached for the thesaurus and pulled out the term “egregious” to summarize a series of critical errors, especially in puck battles and slow line changes. By definition, egregious means “extraordinary in some bad way — glaring or flagrant.”
“I don't think we gave them a lot, but what we gave them was egregious,” said the bench boss. “Sometimes, our body position, and I hate to say mind-boggling, but for some reasons our backs are to the wall. You've go to be in front.”
The Kings limited time and space and clogged up the neutral zone like Interstate 405 at rush hour. The Canucks couldn't enter the offensive zone at pace and dumping pucks in played right into the Kings' game.
The manner in which they defended down low and boxed out was textbook stuff.
The good news is that the Canucks learned something Sunday in Anaheim.
They played a perfect, low-event road game in a methodical 2-1 victory over the Ducks that was more about grinding — especially in the third period with Anaheim pressing — than putting on a show to open a three-game road trip.
The history: It wasn't just the Thursday loss to L.A., the Canucks have a history of not measuring up to the Kings. L.A. has collected points in six of the last seven meetings with Vancouver (4-1-2) dating to Dec. 30, 2021. In their last meeting at Crypto.com Arena, the Kings blanked the Canucks 3-0 on April 10. They locked it down and Joonas Korpisalo had to make just 20 saves for the shutout.
The hope: Defenceman Carson Soucy practised Monday, and with the recalled Matt Irwin returned to Abbotsford, it signals a return of the club's best defender. Soucy has missed 17 games with a hand fracture suffered when he blocked a Mitch Marner shot Jan. 20 against the Maple Leafs.
The fear: Failure to launch. The Canucks had 31 shots Sunday. They had another 21 blocked and eight that missed the net. “We're getting shots blocked too much,” said Tocchet. “Our defence has to move laterally. And since the allstar break we've missed the net the most.”
The top guns: J.T. Miller was tied for sixth in NHL scoring heading into play Monday with 83 points (30-53), which includes nine power-play goals and six game-winners. Elias Pettersson was 11th with 75 points (29-46) and Quinn Hughes was 14th with 71 points (12-59). He continues to lead all blueliners in scoring.
The wounded: Canucks: Tyler Myers (lower body, week to week), Dakota Joshua (hand, week to week, IR), and Guillaume Brisebois (concussion, week to week, LTIR). Kings: Adrian Kempe (upper body, game-time decision), Mikey Anderson (upper body, day to day), Viktor Arvidsson (lower body, IR), Carl Grundstrom (lower body, IR), and Pheonix Copley (undisclosed, IR).
The quote: “I just like the team effort. It wasn't like we had a lot of outstanding guys. We grinded it out.” — Tocchet on the 2-1 win at Anaheim
THE LINEUP: Forward lines
Hoglander-Pettersson-Suter
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Mikheyev-Miller-Boeser
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Podkolzin-Lindholm- Garland ■
Di Giuseppe-Blueger-Lafferty ■
Defence pairings
Hughes-Hronek
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Soucy-Cole
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Zadorov-Juulsen
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Goalie
Thatcher Demko
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The prediction: The Canucks rely on their top-rated even-strength scoring — the Kings sport the second-best penalty kill — and grind out a rare 3-2 win in L.A.