Los Angeles Kings Rally Back Against Vancouver Canucks

Thursday night the Los Angeles Kings were in Vancouver at Rogers Arena to play the Canucks. The Kings rallied back from a 2-0 deficit in the first half of the game to win 3-2.

L.A. dominated the game for approximately 2:12; the last 2:12 of the game.

Before that point in time, it appeared the Kings had fallen into a familiar story from the first third of the season during the end of 2014.

The Kings controlled the flow of play outshooting the Canucks 16-8 in the first period, but it was Vancouver who struck first.

Dustin Brown was in the penalty box for tripping Canucks forward Jannik Hansen. Vancouver was working the puck around the boards in the Kings zone, until it got out to Radim Vrbata at the point. Vrbata slapped a shot on goal that was blocked by Kings defensemen Matt Greene. The puck redirected to Daniel Sedin who kicked the puck over to Alexandre Burrows who swatted the puck past a downed Jonathan Quick.

Early in the second Vancouver snuck another one passed Quick, on one of the two shots the Canucks registered in the period, taking a two goal lead.

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Henrik Sedin brought the puck into the Kings zone cutting through the circle towards the net. Sedin dropped the puck to Chris Higgins as he took a hit. Higgins brought the puck into the corner, then cut back and threw a pass to Vrbata in the slot. Vrbata slapshot one-timed the pass into the net.

It was a tick-tack-toe-bingo play.

Mike Richards took a pass, brought the puck into the Vancouver zone, and fired a shot on goal. Canucks goaltender Ryan Miller deflected the shot into the corner. Kyle Clifford forced Canucks defensemen Ryan Stanton to cough the puck up to Richards. Richards passed the puck to Dwight King coming out of the corner heading to the front of the net. King took a low shot then took a second whack at his own rebound and scored.

Play in the third period was more even until the end of the game when the Kings started pressing.

Stanton took a two-minute penalty with four-minutes left in the game. With 9-seconds left in the penalty Justin Williams tied the game.

A missed shot came around the boards to Drew Doughty. Doughty kept the puck in, passing it to Justin Williams at the hash-marks. Williams took the pass, curled around towards the net and ripped a wrister short-side top-shelf over Miller’s shoulder.

53-seconds later Jarret Stoll gave the Kings their first lead of the game.

Matt Greene kept the puck in the Canucks zone by chipping it into the corner. Tanner Pearson got to the puck first, brought it out to the hash-marks where he was challenged by Vancouver defensemen. Pearson zipped a saucer pass across the ice to the opposite side face-off dot, where Stoll received the pass, wound up and fired a howitzer to beat Miller.

It was a narrow escape for the Kings, but a great victory to boost team morale.

Mike Richards assist is his first point in 9 games. Richards has played on the fourth line for the majority of this season, and his minutes have dropped along with his production.

Richards give the Kings unmatched depth at the center ice position. Richards is also a part of the Kings power-play unit. Still there are those in and around the L.A. scene that question if Richards is worth the $5.75 million price tag. Richards has 4 goals, 13 points and a -7 plus/minus in 39 games this season.