Possible playoff preview in Los Angeles
Vancouver Canucks (47-21-8) vs. Los Angeles Kings (40-25-11) When: Tonight, 7 p.m.
Where: Crypto.com Arena
TV: Hockey Night in Canada
Radio: Sportsnet 650
The buzz: Where to begin? First of all, there's the Canucks who played well the last time they were in L.A. but struggled in the other two encounters. The Kings are as defensive as it gets in the NHL. They make it hard to get to the net. If they get a lead, good luck trying to come back. Their incredibly boring system has drawn a lot of critics, but Kings fans don't care. Their team is winning.
The Kings have a smooth finish to the season. They have a road game Tuesday in Anaheim, then four straight at home against non-playoff teams to close the campaign.
They're a point back of the Predators in the chase for the first wild-card spot, but Nashville has a trickier finish to the season with three road games and opponents who are chasing a playoff position (New Jersey, the Islanders, Pittsburgh) or are firmly in the playoffs (Winnipeg, Nashville). L.A. could catch Nashville, which would likely make them the Canucks' playoff opponents.
The history: This is the final of four meetings this season, which have all happened since Feb. 29. The Kings have won twice in Vancouver — 5-1 and 3-2 — while Vancouver won in L.A. a month ago.
The hope: The Canucks showed exactly who they can be in that March 5 win — persistent, disciplined and strong. They came back from a 1-0 deficit to win in overtime. Their stars scored the goals: Elias Pettersson tied it up with a dazzling goal in the second period and J.T. Miller hammered home the OT winner. The Canucks want that performance again.
The fear: You just can't fall behind against these guys. The Canucks did come back in their win, but in both the first game and the most recent game on March 25, they fell behind and just couldn't find a way back. The Canucks absolutely must score first or it's almost certainly lights out.
The top guns: Miller has six points in five games. He's been a scoring machine in the second half of the season and now needs just five points to hit 100 for the first time. Conor Garland has been a wizard lately. He had four goals and six assists in March. But this is troubling: Pettersson is pointless in seven of his last nine games. He was the NHL'S third star of the month in January. It all seems a long time ago.
The quote: “It's their goal to don't play hockey and don't let the other team play hockey, pretty much,” Nikita Zadorov said after the 3-2 Kings win in Vancouver. Kings star Drew Doughty later called Zadorov's comments “absurd.”
The wounded: Canucks: Elias Lindholm (undisclosed, day to day), and Thatcher Demko (lower body, week to week). Kings: Alex Turcotte (upper body, LTIR), Carl Grundstrom (lower body, day to day), Phillip Danault (upper body, day to day), and Pheonix Copley (torn ACL, out for season).
THE LINEUP:
Forwards
Höglander-pettersson-boeser Joshua-miller- Garland Podkolzin-blueger-joshua Mikheyev-suter-lafferty Defence Hughes-hronek Soucy-myers Zadorov-juulsen
Goalie
Casey Desmith
The prediction: The Kings are looking strong. This is going to be a hard one for the Canucks. Look at L.A. to win 3-2.