Sometimes in sports, timing really is everything.
Thursday night’s matchup between the Los Angeles Kings and the Vancouver Canucks served as a prime example of that. Vancouver entered the game atop the Western Conference standings with 83 points, while Los Angeles sat in fourth in the Pacific Division with 68. However, the Canucks had been in a slump of late, having lost four of their prior five games. The Kings, meanwhile, rolled into the Pacific Northwest having won seven of 11.
Sure enough, those trends continued Thursday in Vancouver. The Kings struck first and never looked back, cruising to a 5-1 road win over the Canucks.
Drew Doughty opened the scoring for the Kings at 13:19 of the first period. Anze Kopitar’s goal at 5:14 of the second would then be all of the insurance Los Angeles needed. After Vancouver’s Brock Boeser cut the lead in half at 2:55 of the third, Kevin Fiala made it a two-goal margin once again less than two minutes later. Brandt Clarke and Trevor Moore each added additional tallies later in the third to put the game out of reach.
“I thought we played really well,” Kings interim head coach Jim Hiller said. “I thought tonight was probably one through 60 our best game, our most complete game.”
Doughty and Fiala each had three-point nights for the Kings, with both racking up a goal and two assists. Kopitar added a goal and an assist, while Quinton Byfield had two assists.
Kings goaltender Cam Talbot had strong outing, stopping 22 of Vancouver’s 23 shots on net. Canucks netminder Thatcher Demko struggled on the other hand, allowing five goals on just 20 shots.
“We had shot blocks,” Hiller said. “But when [the puck] finally made its way to [Talbot], he was there to make the save.”
“He’s getting his mojo back again and it’s great to see.”
The win wrapped up a three-game Western Canada road trip for the Kings. Los Angeles will now return home to Crypto.com Arena for a five-game homestand, beginning Sunday afternoon against the New Jersey Devils. Puck drop is set for 12:30 p.m. PST on TNT.
