The Vancouver Canucks are back in action on Saturday night for the second game of a back-to-back as they travel to Los Angeles to face the Kings.
This is the fifth back-to-back of the season for the Canucks, who are 2-1-1 in the second game of back-to-backs this season.
Head Coach Adam Foote liked his group’s five-on-five play on Friday afternoon, but is looking for a boost from his special teams. He spoke about wanting the power play to have more shots on net and thought they were a bit too predictable with the puck against San Jose.
“We seemed a little bit out of sorts,” said Foote about his power play following Friday’s game. “It looked like the emotions got into it, involved, and we were just out of sync. You’ve got to reel that back in; it’s a game to win. We had them all night. Maybe had a little bit of a slow start the first couple of shifts, but other than that, [at] five-on-five, our gameplan was working well.”
Prior to Friday’s game, the power play had scored in eight consecutive games.
Quick Hits on the Competition
- Kevin Fiala leads the Kings with 10 goals this season. Fiala is skating on a line with Quinton Byfield and Adrian Kempe.
- Kempe leads the team with 20 points (7g-13a) through 24 games.
- The Kings currently sit second in the Pacific Division with an 11-6-7 record.
- They are 7-1-3 when scoring the first goal of the game and 7-0-0 when taking a lead into the second intermission.
- The Kings lost in a shootout to the Anaheim Ducks on Friday. Darcy Kuemper started between the pipes last night, so the expected goaltender for Saturday is Anton Forsberg.
- Forsberg has made seven starts this season and posts a 3-2-2 record with an .888% save percentage, a 2.94 goals-against average, and has one shutout.
- Veteran defenceman Drew Doughty is out of the lineup for the Kings after he took a shot to the foot last week. He is listed as week-to-week.
The Story: Boeser and Pettersson Move Up All-Time Ranks
Brock Boeser and Elias Pettersson both notched a goal on Friday afternoon, and with those goals, they each moved up the ranks in Canucks’ history.
Boeser’s goal was his 450th point as a Canuck, which passed Todd Bertuzzi for 10th in all-time scoring.
Pettersson’s highlight reel goal gave him 479 points as a Canuck, moving him past Pavel Bure for seventh in franchise history.
https://x.com/Canucks/status/1994532660602180065
Canucks’ Top Performers over the Last Five Games
Elias Pettersson: 4g-1a-5p
Filip Hronek: 2g-3a-5p
Quinn Hughes: 1g-4a-5p
Evander Kane: 1g-3a-4p
Tom Willander: 0g-4a-4p
When and Where to Watch
Saturday’s game is at 7:00 p.m. PT, and you can watch the game on Hockey Night in Canada or listen to Brendan Batchelor’s radio call on Sportsnet 650 and the Sportsnet Radio Network.
