LOS ANGELES — The Kings hoped to recapture their road magic on home ice but failed to do so on Tuesday night, falling to the Vancouver Canucks, 2-1, at Crypto.com Arena in overtime just five days after they upended the Western Conference-leading Canucks, 5-1, north of the border.
Trevor Moore scored the Kings’ lone goal. Cam Talbot made 29 saves. By earning a point, the Kings moved into a points tie with the defending champion Vegas Golden Knights for third place in the Pacific Division.
Elias Pettersson scored for Vancouver in regulation. Quinn Hughes assisted on his goal as well as J.T. Miller’s overtime winner. Former Junior King Thatcher Demko turned away 23 shots. The Canucks’ second straight 2-1 win (they beat the Ducks on Sunday) kept them two points ahead of the Dallas Stars, who will visit the Kings on Saturday, for the top point total in the West.
“It was a good game, they played well and so did we. It goes to overtime and they make a nice play and score,” Kings interim coach Jim Hiller said. “We won’t hang our heads on that one. We would have liked two [points] for sure, but we won’t hang our heads, we’ll take a rest tomorrow and then play the next one.”
Overtime lasted 96 seconds as the Canucks first drew an offensive-zone infraction against Kevin Fiala and then cashed in during the delayed penalty. Miller dished the puck to Brock Boeser low, who sent it back to Miller, who glided forward to rip a slap shot from just above the faceoff dot for his team-leading 31st goal of the season.
“I think we did a better job of not cracking. That team over there will make you do dumb stuff and that’s how they get their opportunities,” Miller said.
In regulation, just 2:05 into the final frame, a two-on-one rush made it appear as though Alex Turcotte had Demko dead to rights, but the San Diego native lunged across his crease and stoned him with a glove save. Vancouver forward Elias Lindholm called the stop “one of the best saves…
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