The Los Angeles Kings got 20 saves from Joonas Korpisalo in a 3-0 shutout victory over the Vancouver Canucks.
The Vancouver Canucks and Los Angeles Kings looked spectacular in their throwback uniforms. Unfortunately they game they played did not match their sartorial splendour. The Kings did what they had to do to grind out a 3-0 victory. The Canucks did not do much to test Kings netminder Joonas Korpisalo who was forced to make just 20 saves on the night and very few of the difficult variety. Here are some thoughts and observations about the contest at Crypto.com Arena:
- The finish line is in sight for the Vancouver Canucks and for much of Monday night their play looked like that of a team that knows the summer starts soon. The Canucks top players aren't doing much to generate offense and their supporting cast has all but disappeared. Elias Pettersson remains on 99 points for the season and really didn't threaten the century mark against the Kings. Quinn Hughes has gone five games without a point for the first time in his National Hockey League career. JT Miller's lone goal in the last nine games was an empty netter against Chicago last week. Overall, the Canucks have mustered just eight goals in their last five games and none over the past five periods. With the Kings up 1-0 heading to the third period, the Canucks really didn't mount much of a push and managed just six shots on goal over the final 20 minutes.
- So the Canucks are getting little primary scoring, but perhaps more troubling is just how invisible the secondary scorers are these days. At a time when depth players should be doing everything in their power to leave a lasting impression on the new coaching staff, unfortunately too many have gone remarkably quiet. Give Sheldon Dries credit for a spirited second period scrap with Sean Durzi, but other than Dries, the Canucks depth players struggled mightily on Monday. The line of Dakota Joshua-Nils Aman and Jack Studnicka was outshot 7-1 by the Kings in 8:11 of even strength ice time. The line of Anthony Beauvillier-Dries and Conor Garland was outshot 4-0 by the Kings in 7:40 at evens. The Dries line was on the ice for the first Kings goal while the Aman line was out for the 2-0 goal. The Canucks have a pretty good idea what they have at the top of their line-up, but questions abound about how this team plans to fill out its roster moving forward. Getting outshot 11-1 and outscored 2-0 with its bottom six forwards on the ice surely leaves plenty of questions that remain unanswered with just two games remaining on the schedule.
- In their last three games against Los Angeles, the Canucks have scored just three goals. It's important to remember that the Kings may wind up as a Wild Card team in the West when the playoff positions are set in stone later this week. The Kings are having a fine season, but there are better teams out there and the Canucks need to remember that as they assess where they are as a hockey club and how they measure up. It's also worth noting that while the Canucks are 6-4-2 in their last 12 outings, only one of those wins -- a 3-1 victory in Dallas on March 25th -- is against a team currently above the playoff bar. The others are against Calgary, Anaheim, San Jose and a pair against Chicago.
- Collin Delia did what he's done for most of the season giving the Canucks a chance to win when he's between the pipes. He stopped 15 of the 16 shots he faced through 40 minutes and had his team within a goal heading to the final frame. His job isn't to score goals, it's to prevent them. And he did that for the most part, but there wasn't much Delia could do about Vladislav Gavrikov's marker 4:03 into the third period. Tyler Myers simply has to do a better job with the puck. The veteran defender turned it over just inside his own blueline when pressured by Trevor Moore who worked the puck free to Phillip Danault. Danault then played it back to Moore on right wing and he in turn found Gavrikov as the trailer on the play and the Kings defenseman made no mistake beating Delia with a wrist shot on the glove side. The Rancho Cucamonga, California native has now lost his last two starts and is 9-6-2 on the season. Delia is expected to get the start in the Canucks season finale in Arizona on Thursday.
- The Canucks don't have many extra healthy bodies these days. But rookie Aidan McDonough is on the road trip and available to Rick Tocchet. He's been a scratch the past three games and has dressed for just four contests since turning pro late last month following his four year college career at Northeastern. McDonough has had his moments in the four NHL games he's played so far including his first big league goal at home against Calgary on March 31st. It wasn't an issue that he did not dress against the Kings, but after so many listless performances from depth forwards on Monday night, it would be a surprise -- and somewhat disappointing -- if he can't find his way into the line-up on Tuesday in Anaheim. Not only could the Canucks use fresh legs playing back to back and for the third time in four nights. But after getting shutout, they could definitely use a spark. Perhaps McDonough could provide one.