The road trip continues to the West Coast as the Vancouver Canucks are in Los Angeles for their third matchup this season.
Wednesday kicks off another back-to-back set of games for the Canucks and marks the halfway point of their five-game road trip. The Kings and Canucks have met twice this season, and the road team has picked up a win in both outings.
Brock Boeser continues to find scoring opportunities and is poised to break through in the coming games if he keeps up his offensive prowess. Boeser leads the Canucks with 32 scoring chances over his last 10 games and is generating a majority of his scoring chances from the centre of the ice in the offensive zone.
Boeser celebrated his 28th birthday on Tuesday and has 18 goals on the season through 50 games played while being one of four Canucks with over 100 shots on net this season. Boeser is averaging 17:46 of ice time per game this season and has added 17 assists to give him 35 points on the year.
Los Angeles comes into Wednesday’s game riding a high after the break. They picked up commanding 5-3 and 5-2 wins through their first two games since the season paused for the 4 Nations Face-Off.
Kings’ forward Quinton Byfield had a four-assist night on Monday in a 5-2 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights. Byfield is in his fifth NHL season after being drafted 2nd overall in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft. He plays centre on the second line with Kevin Fiala and Alex Laferriere.
Byfield has scored 11 goals and 22 assists for 33 points and has played in all 55 of the Kings’ games this season. His speed, size, and skill make him one of the league’s more exciting players. Ten of his 11 goals have come at even strength this season.
Quick Hits on the Competition
- Adrian Kempe leads the Kings with 48 points and 25 goals through 55 games. He has scored 20 goals at even strength this season, which is tied for 11th in the league.
- Drew Doughty is back in the lineup for the Kings and is averaging 25:55 of ice time through eight games this season. Doughty is back running the first power play unit for the Kings following his return to the lineup.
- Defenceman Vladislav Gavrikov averages 24 minutes of ice time per game and has three goals and 19 assists.
- The Kings rank fifth in the league on the penalty kill and have killed off 82.2% of their penalties this season. Kempe and Trevor Moore each have a shorthanded goal on the year.
- Darcy Kuemper has been the leading man between the pipes and has made 31 starts this season. David Rittich has started 23 games as the backup. Kuemper is 18-6-6 with a .917% save percentage, 2.21 goals-against average, and two shutouts. Rittich is 12-11-1 with a .890% SV%, and a 2.59 GAA.
- On home ice, the Kings are 13-1-1 when scoring first and 12-0-1 when taking a lead into the third period.
- The Kings have run with 11 forwards and seven defencemen in their last two games.
The Story: A Good, Hard Practice Ahead of Back-to-Backs
Tuesday’s practice saw Nils Höglander jump up the lineup to play with Elias Pettersson and Jake DeBrusk. Pettersson commented on what Höglander brings to a line.
“He’s a little Pit Bull out there,” said Pettersson. “Hard-working, strong on the puck and maybe win me some pucks or vice-versa. He is fun to play with.”
Head coach Rick Tocchet said his group had an informative video session and believes Tuesday’s practice was one of the best of the season. He spoke about the team working on getting pucks to the net and setting players up to be prepared to get pucks and make plays around the net.
Another good news is that Quinn Hughes was a full participant in the practice.
Canucks’ Top Performers over the Last Five Games
Jake DeBrusk: 3g-1a-4p
Filip Hronek: 1g-3a-4p
Brock Boeser: 2g-0a-2p
Drew O’Connor: 2g-0a-2p
Elias Pettersson, Tyler Myers, Pius Suter, Filip Chytil: 0g-2a-2p
When and Where to Watch
Wednesday’s game is a 7:00 p.m. PT start, and you can watch it on Sportsnet or listen along to the radio call with Brendan Batchelor on Sportsnet 650 and the Sportsnet Radio Network.
