Despite letting Friday night’s home matchup against the Calgary Flames slip away, the new-look Vancouver Canucks are one the league’s best reclamation projects as the season’s end nears.
The Canucks won’t have anything at stake in terms of the playoff race when they host the Los Angeles Kings on Sunday night in the second contest of their five-game homestand.
However, early returns under new leadership suggest the effort will be there against their Pacific Division rival.
Vancouver (34-34-7, 75 points) led a good portion against Calgary, but the Flames’ Jonathan Huberdeau — entrenched in a terrible first season in Alberta — scored a power-play goal with 3:13 left to tie the game.
Tyler Toffoli then tallied his career-high 33rd goal on a two-on-one break to sink the Canucks, 5-4, in overtime for the second straight game.
Elias Pettersson blistered his 36th goal on a power play to stretch his NHL career-best point streak to 14 games. The dynamic Swede has 20 points (eight goals, 12 assists) over that span.
But the night ended poorly for the fifth-year veteran: sitting in the penalty box for high sticking when Huberdeau scored the late equalizer.
“Very frustrating,” said Pettersson, who is tied with Arizona’s Clayton Keller for the longest active point streak. “They were maybe a better team overall. They had more shots, more looks, but we defended with everything we could.”
Still, an improved Vancouver is 16-9-4 since Rick Tocchet assumed coaching duties on Jan. 24.
Playing in just his second NHL game, Vancouver forward Aidan McDonough notched his first goal after finding a rebound in front of the Calgary crease.
“You dream about scoring that on the driveway or in the backyard your whole life,” McDonough said. “It was pretty special.”
The Canucks are not mathematically eliminated from the Western Conference playoff picture, but they enter Sunday 12 points out of the second wild-card spot held by the Winnipeg Jets.
But Sunday’s game holds major importance for the Kings (44-22-10, 98 points), who have lost both meetings (0-1-1) with Vancouver so far and have absorbed defeats in nine of the past 10 matchups (1-5-4) against the British Columbia club.
The contest will close a four-game road trip for Los Angeles, which is 1-2-0 so far. The club is clinging to second place in the Pacific Division after winning 3-1 at the Seattle Kraken on Saturday night.
Goaltender Pheonix Copley was sharp in Seattle, stopping 25 shots to extend his career-high win total. Copley holds a sterling 24-4-3 mark this season.
Sean Durzi scored the Kings’ first goal — his ninth — but he found himself literally behind his netminder at one point during a Seattle offensive flurry in the third period.
“(We were) doing whatever it would take to keep the puck out of the net,” Durzi said during a Bally Sports West interview. “He was tremendous. Obviously, you want to make sure that none of those dribblers go in.”
Forward Kevin Fiala drew back in after missing seven of the past nine games and iced the victory with an empty-net goal. Gabriel Vilardi was out of the lineup for the third straight game.
Defenseman Mikey Anderson missed his first game this campaign after being injured in Edmonton on Thursday, and Sean Walker stepped in for him.
–Field Level Media
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