Kings Visit The Canucks Itching To Make Playoffs

2022.23

By Andrew Phillip Chernoff CanucksBanter

April 2, 2023

Los Angeles Kings (44-22-10), 3rd in the Pacific Division) visit the Vancouver Canucks (34-34-7), 6th in the Pacific Division) in a Pacific Division contest tonight.

Vancouver, British Columbia; 5 p.m. PDT.

Home Sweet Home

Vancouver continues their final home games of the season today with a visit from the Kings on their homestand.

Upcoming are: Seattle April 4; Chicago, April 6. And, finally, Calgary, April 8.

March Great For Canucks Hockey

The month of March saw the Canucks earn a record of 10-3-2 for 22 points, 5th best behind Boston, Minnesota, Vegas and Edmonton.

Highlights:

3.53 GF/GP, 7th in NHL (min15GP)
2.53 GA/GP, 4th in NHL (min14GP)
23.9% Power Play, 10th in NHL
87.0% Penalty Kill, 5th in NHL
Thatcher Demko: .909 SV%, 2nd in NHL (min12GP); 2.67 GAA, 3rd in NHL (min12GP)
J.T. Miller 10th in NHL scoring: 9-12=21 PTS; +/- of +8, 4 PPPts, 4 SHGoals, 5 SHPts, and 12 EVPts
Elias Pettersson, 13th in NHL scoring: 8-12=20 PTS; +/- of +7, 4 PPGoals, 7 PPPts, 1 SHGoal, 3 SHPts, and 10 EVPts

Last Game

Vancouver failed to hold 2-0, 3-2, and 4-3 leads before ex-Canuck Tyler Toffoli scored with 1:33 remaining in overtime to lift Calgary to its third straight win 5-4 OT on March 31.

Phoenix Copley made 25 saves, Sean Durzi, Carl Grundstrom and Kevin Fiala scored, and Los Angeles moved closer to clinching a playoff spot with a 3-1 win over the Seattle Kraken on Saturday night.

Last 5 vs Los Angeles

Mar. 18/23: VAN 3 @ LAK 2 (SO)
Nov. 18/22: VAN 4 vs LAK 1
Apr. 28/22: VAN 3 vs LAK 2 (OT)
Dec. 30/21: VAN 1 at LAK 2 (SO)
Dec. 6/21: VAN 4 vs LAK 0

Last 10 Games:

Kings: 6-2-2, averaging 3.5 goals, 5.9 assists, 2.9 penalties and 6.1 penalty minutes while giving up two goals per game.

Canucks: 6-2-2, averaging 3.7 goals, 6.3 assists, 3.3 penalties and 7.1 penalty minutes while giving up 2.8 goals per game.

Kings – Canucks NHL Stats Comparison

Source: nhl.com

Top Performers:

Andrei Kuzmenko has 37 goals and 32 assists for the Canucks.
Jonathan Tanner Miller has 5 goals and 10 assists over the last 10 games.
Elias Pettersson is on a career-high 14-game point streak with 20 points (8-12=20) in those games.
Kevin Fiala has 22 goals and 48 assists for the Kings.
Viktor Arvidsson has 6 goals and 3 assists over the last 10 games for LA.

Streaking Canucks

Elias Pettersson is on a career-high 14-game point streak with 20 points (8-12-20) in those games.
J.T. Miller has 19 points (8-11-19) in his last 12 games.
Andrei Kuzmenko has 15 points (9-6-15) in his last 14 games.
Quinn Hughes has 12 points (2-10-12) in his last 8 games.
Brock Boeser has six points (3-3-6) in his last 4 games.
The Canucks are 16-9-4 since Rick Tocchet took over as Head Coach on January 22.
Tyler Myers (0-2-2 / 2 Games)
Andrei Kuzmenko (3-5-8 / 5 Games)
Quinn Hughes (2-3-5 / 3 Games)

Vancouver’s 2022.23 Record When…

Score 4+ Goals: 27-6-4
Score 3 Goals or Less: 7-28-3
Allow 4+ Goals: 9-26-6
Allow 3 Goals or Less: 25-8-1
Scoring First: 19-11-5
Allowing First Goal: 14-23-2
On 0 Days Rest: 8-4-1
On 1 Day Rest: 15-19-3
On 2 Days Rest: 9-9-2
On 3+ Days Rest: 2-2-1
Score a PPG: 22-17-4
Give up a PPG: 17-24-6
25 or More Shots on Goal: 25-26-6
Less than 25 shots: 9-8-1

INJURIES:

Canucks: Oliver Ekman-Larsson: out (lower body), Noah Juulsen: day to day (lower body), Vasily Podkolzin: day to day (undisclosed), Ilya Mikheyev: out for season (knee), Tanner Pearson: out for season (hand), Travis Dermott: out (undisclosed), Tucker Poolman: out (undisclosed).

Kings: Gabriel Vilardi: day to day (upper-body).

Short Of It

Canucks

Vancouver have a 14-6-1 record in Pacific Division games.
The Canucks have scored 259 total goals (3.39 per game) to rank 10th in the NHL.
Have a 17-18-2 home record with an OT loss last game.
1-Goal Games: 17 – 12 – 7
2-Goal Games: 4 – 6
3-Goal Games: 13 – 16
Scoring first: 19 – 11 – 5
Opponent scoring first: 15 – 23 – 2
Leading after 1 period: 13 – 5 – 3
Trailing after 1 period: 10 – 18 – 1
Tied after 1 period: 11 – 11 – 3
Leading after 2 periods: 18 – 1 – 4
Trailing after 2 periods: 8 – 30 – 3
Tied after 2 periods: 8-3-0
OT Record-This Season: 12-7