The Vancouver Canucks (6-2-3) shoot for a three-game sweep of their California road trip when they face the Los Angeles Kings (8-3-3) in a Pacific Division showdown at Crypto.com Arena.
It’s a battle of two netminders – Kevin Lankinen and Darcy Kuemper – that are both undefeated in regulation time so far this season.
After a full team practice yesterday, the Canucks held an optional morning skate this morning. At practice Wednesday afternoon, the team had the same line combinations and defensive pairings it used to beat Anaheim 5-1 on Tuesday night. That means Dakota Joshua’s season debut will have to wait. There had been speculation earlier in the week the big winger would play at some point on this road trip.
Kevin Lankinen is expected to make his third straight start in goal. He stopped 21 Ducks shots in Tuesday’s win. He is 6-0-2 on the season and has the best goals against average (2.09) of all NHL goalies that have appeared in five or more games this season.
Quinn Hughes had his first three-point night of the season against Anaheim and now leads the Canucks with 12 points through 11 games. Brock Boeser scored his team-leading sixth goal while Jake DeBrusk has scored in consecutive games. Kiefer Sherwood and Danton Heinen each had a goal and an assist. Elias Pettersson scored Vancouver’s other goal.
Boeser has feasted on the Kings through the years scoring 17 goals in 20 career games against Los Angeles. He has eight power play goals, four game winners, an overtime goal and a hattrick. He has scored 17 times on 70 shots (24.3%).
The Canucks are on a roll away from home having won five straight road games (in Anaheim, San Jose, Chicago, Philadelphia and Florida). Overall, they are 6-1-1 in their last eight games. The team has given up the first goal in five straight games, but rallied to go 3-1-1 over that stretch.

The opponent

The Kings are coming off a pair of impressive road wins defeating the Predators 3-0 in Nashville on Monday and they followed that up with a 5-1 win at Minnesota on Tuesday. With 19 points through 14 games, the Kings trail only Winnipeg in the overall NHL standings.
The ageless Anze Kopitar – he’s actually 37 – leads LA with 15 points while Alex Laferriere tops the team with eight goals followed by Kevin Fiala with seven. Along with Adrian Kempe and Brandt Clarke, the Kings have five players with 12 or more points.
Darcy Kuemper made 16 saves for the shutout in Music City before backing-up David Rittich on Tuesday. Kuemper is 4-0-3 on the season with a 2.67 GAA and an 89.9% save percentage. Kuemper gets the call tonight and has been solid throughout his career against the Canucks going 13-6-2 with a 2.29 GAA, 92.3% save percentage and a shutout.
Los Angeles is stout defensively, surrendering an average of 25.5 shots against per game. That places the Kings third in the league behind Carolina and Colorado. The Kings have not permitted more than 26 shots in any of their last seven games.
Offensively, LA has scored nearly half of its goals this season in the third period. The Kings have 23 of their 47 goals on the season in the final frame.
The Kings opened the season with a seven-game road trip and were the last team in the NHL to play a home game. They were 1-1-2 through four games this season, but are 5-1-1 in their past seven games and 7-2-1 in their last 10.
The Canucks and Kings will meet three times this season with their next matchup on January 16th in Vancouver. Los Angeles took three of four head to head match-ups last season and has won four of the last five overall.
Tonight’s referees: Jean Hebert & Justin Kea
Tonight’s broadcasters: John Shorthouse & Dave Tomlinson

What we heard

Rick Tocchet excited to see how his team stacks up against the Kings: “Division game. Rival. Both teams trying to climb the ladder. There are a lot of similarities. I always loved divisional games. It makes you concentrate a little bit more and you want to get to your game a lot quicker. It’s a big test for us.”
Tocchet knows these aren’t the same sit back and trap LA Kings of recent years: “They’ve changed their neutral zone. Metrics say they’re one of the better defensive teams. They’re playing as a team. They’re winning games because of their system and their team. And it’s the same thing with us. It’ll be a good test for us tonight.”
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