NHL Game Summary - Vancouver at Los Angeles
(Sunday, April 15th)
Final Score: Los Angeles 1, Vancouver 0
Los Angeles, CA (Sports Network) - Jonathan Quick stopped 41 shots to record
his second career postseason shutout and help the Los Angeles Kings gain a
stranglehold over the Vancouver Canucks in the Western Conference
quarterfinals with a 1-0 victory.
Dustin Brown netted the game's lone goal for the Kings, who took a commanding
3-0 lead over the Canucks in the series.
Los Angeles will have a chance to record its first series win since 2001 on
Wednesday.
Cory Schneider made his second career start in the playoffs in place of the
benched Roberto Luongo and stopped 19-of-20 shots.
Vancouver is on the verge of becoming the sixth Presidents' Trophy winner to
be eliminated in the first round, joining the 1990-91 Chicago Blackhawks,
1999-2000 St. Louis Blues, 2005-06 Detroit Red Wings, 2008-09 San Jose Sharks
and 2009-10 Washington Capitals.
"A great performance by their goaltender," Canucks head coach Alain Vigneault
said. "Give them credit, they're up and we're in a tough position right now.
We know what's at stake. We have to regroup and get ready for Wednesday."
Brown was able to break the scoreless tie at the 6:30 mark of the third period
when Justin Williams' shot from the right circle was stopped by Schneider, but
the big rebound kicked out to Brown in the left circle and he fired the puck
into the open net.
"It was just one of those plays. I got knocked down and when I got up I just
happened to be behind the defense," Brown said about his goal. "We worked hard
and found a way to be up 3-0."
Soon after the Canucks killed off a Dan Hamhuis high-sticking penalty later in
the third, Schneider denied Trevor Lewis' hard wrister from the right circle
on a 2-on-1 rush to keep it a one-goal game.
Vancouver's Alexander Edler fired an attempted cross-ice pass over the boards
with 1:37 remaining in the game, resulting in a delay of game penalty that
made the Canucks shorthanded for the remainder of the contest, and they could
not sustain much pressure with the goaltender pulled down the stretch.
The first 20 minutes of the contest passed without a goal, but each team had
its chances to break through.
The first scoring chances came for the Canucks as they failed to capitalize on
an early power play after Brown was called for an elbowing penalty and Jannik
Hansen had a slap shot ring off the left post on a rush.
The Kings could not score on two power plays in the first period and also had
Brown's one-timer from the left circle on a 3-on-1 rush turned aside by
Schneider to keep them off the board.
Vancouver's Alexandre Burrows was then stoned by the left pad of a sprawling
Quick in the closing seconds of the first period to keep the game goalless.
Brown laid a big hit on Vancouver's Henrik Sedin early in the second period to
spark a fight between Burrows and Anze Kopitar as he came to the defense of
his star player and set the tone for a chippy middle stanza that saw a total
of nine penalties and seven power plays.
Sedin was shaken up after the hit and had to be helped onto his bench, but he
stayed in the game.
However, neither team would take advantage of its power-play opportunities,
including the Kings not capitalizing on a brief two-man advantage and a 4-on-3
power play as Quick stopped 14 shots and Schneider turned aside all six that
he faced in the period.
Game Notes
Vancouver went 0-for-4 on the power play in the game, dropping the Canucks to
an 0-for-14 mark with the man advantage in the series...The Kings were 0-for-8
on the power play...Kopitar had the secondary assist on Brown's goal.
04/16 02:00:00 ET
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