Thatcher Demko made 38 saves and did not allow a goal in the shootout to lead the visiting Vancouver Canucks to a 3-2 win against the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday night.
Brock Boeser and Elias Pettersson scored, and J.T. Miller and Quinn Hughes had two assists each for the Canucks (30-33-5, 65 points), who have won six of seven games and earned points in 12 straight games (10-0-2) against the Kings. Andrei Kuzmenko and Miller scored goals in the shootout.
Alexander Edler and Carl Grundstrom scored and Joonas Korpisalo made 15 saves for the Kings (40-20-10, 90 points), who are 7-0-2 in their past nine games and have not allowed more than two goals in regulation in their past eight.
The Kings (40-29-10, 90 points) moved into a tie for first in points in the Pacific Division with the Vegas Golden Knights with 12 games left for Los Angeles and 13 for Vegas.
The Golden Knights and Kings face off once more down the stretch, on April 6 in Las Vegas.
The Canucks were getting outshot 37-9 when Pettersson scored with a wrist shot from the right faceoff circle seven seconds into a power play to tie the score 2-2 at 11:33 of the third period.
Boeser gave Vancouver a 1-0 lead at 10:53 of the first period with a shot from the top of the circle that went off Edler’s stick and into the net.
Edler tied it 1-1 at 16:52 of the first. His shot from the inside edge of the left faceoff circle off a pass from Gabriel Vilardi beat Demko on his glove side for his second goal of the season.
The Kings were awarded a penalty shot at 10:24 of second period after Guillaume Brisebois was called for hooking Adrian Kempe on a breakaway, but Demko closed his pads to turn away Kempe’s attempt.
Grundstrom scored for the second straight game when he redirected Rasmus Kupari’s pass into the net to give the Kings a 2-1 lead at 16:18 of the second.
The Kings outshot Vancouver 12-2 in the second period, as the Canucks managed just six shots on goal through the first two periods.
–Field Level Media
