Discipline, Penalty Kill On Mind of Vigneault as Canucks and Kings Move South for Game Three.

After splitting games one and two at GM Place, the Vancouver Canucks and LA Kings and headed back to California to do battle again, breaking the deadlock seven game series that sits tied at a game each.

After Ryan Kesler and Mikael Samuelsson were key players for the Canucks in game one, both players continued to be the story for the Canucks in game two. After a poor performance in game one, Ryan Kesler responded in game two delivering a solid performance with two assists, the first of which was directly responsible for the Canucks first goal; Kesler’s one timer on the Canucks opening power play rang off the post behind Jonathan Quick, laying all alone for Steve Bernier who was in perfect position to hammer home an easy one, his first of the playoffs.

Two minutes later at 9:49 of the first, Mikael Samuelsson continued his strong playoffs with a sneaky low wrist shot that skipped slightly in front of Jonathan Quick, enough to throw off the King’s netminders and give the Canucks a 2-0 lead in the first. The shaky goal for Samuelsson and the Canucks should have been a bit of a back breaker for the Kings who had gone down a game and two goals on the road, however Terry Murray managed to rally the Kings immediately after Samuelsson’s third of the playoffs.

After Shane O’Brien’s roughing penalty put the Canucks a man down at 9:13 of the second, a sloppy penalty kill by the Canucks caused a scramble in front of Luongo allowing Fredrik Modin to jump on the loose puck and fire home his second of the post season. Immediately following the Canucks opening goal, the Canucks responded with an aggressive offensive shift that came within inches of restoring the two goal lead, however after the puck came loose to Anze Kopitar a three on one in the Canucks end gave Wayne Simmonds enough space to allow Kopitar to slide him the puck and put the puck home behind Luongo. Just like that, the Canucks had lost an encouraging two goal lead in just 35 seconds.

After a cagey and nervous third period, the Canucks and Kings were destined to decide the game in overtime; unfortunately for the Canucks the Kings were able to take advantage of the power play once again, a power play that has been the Kings’ key to success so far in the series.

In OT, a brutal Canucks line change ended up leaving seven skaters on the ice at one time, after the puck was thrown into the bench area and struck a Canucks skater referees were forced to make the call and put the Canucks down a man for two minutes or less.

Thanks to Anze Kopitar, it would be less. After working the puck around on the man advantage, Kopitar blasted a shot that was ferociously blocked by Ryan Kesler, unfortunately for the pain stricken Canucks’ penalty killer Kopitar was able to then pick up his own rebound and fire another shot on net that made its way through a maze of bodies into the net. A camera shot of an injured Ryan Kesler skating gingerly to the Canucks bench said it all, the Canucks gave a full effort but came up short paying for their overtime mistake.

Going Back To Cali

As the two teams head south to Los Angeles, both the Canucks and Kings head back to Cali with things to work on in preparation for game three, Vancouver’s game plan is simple, discipline. The Canucks penalty kill has come under fire throughout the series in Vancouver, without Ryan Johnson the previously stingy Canucks’ penalty kill unit has become the Achilles heel of the Canucks allowing 4/5 of the Canucks goals in the series. The Canucks need to focus on team discipline on both sides of the whistle in order to keep out of the penalty box and force the Kings to beat them five on five. With only one goal allowed at even strength, the Canucks are fully capable of taking the Kings head on. The Canucks will have to follow a disciplined game plan and avoid the penalty box in order to really take control of games and finish the Kings when up multiple goals, as I said earlier in the week an inability to burry teams can be deadly in the playoffs.

Andrew Alberts has been the source of a couple bad penalties this series against the Kings, with 23 penalty minutes this series, 13 of which have put the Canucks at a disadvantage Alain Vigneault had no choice but to sit the tough defenseman recently dubbed “A-Minor” in favour of the more steady and recently healthy Aaron Rome.

The Canucks will also be replacing pound for pound fighting champ Rick Rypien with Tanner Glass, who will play in his first ever NHL playoff game. Pavol Demitra will also find himself demoted possibly all the way to the fourth line, although Alain Vigneault wouldn’t confirm what line Demitra would find himself on.

Injuries, News and Notes

• As mentioned above, Aaron Rome has overcome his injuries and should be healthy enough to take the place of Andrew Alberts on the Canucks’ blue line.
• It’s no surprise that there is a lot of trash talking going back and forth in any series featuring Alex Burrows and Ryan Kesler, but apparently rookie trash talker Rich Clune crossed the line on Saturday night. Doesn’t he know sloppy seconds jokes are off limits?
• Speaking of Alex Burrows’ trash talk, Drew Doughty seems to be starting to enjoy the frenglish verbal barbs of Burrows and is apparently flattered by the attention all the same.
• The Canucks “Behind the Lens” segment, Day One in Los Angeles.
• The ice conditions in LA for the morning skate “wasn’t good at all” said Ryan Kesler this morning, another unnecessary distraction for both teams to be honest, just win guys.
• With both teams “Going Back To Cali” why not get your gameface on with some West Coast rap. Warning: Not Safe For Work lyrics, listen with caution. Canucks vs. Kings, 7PM from the Staples Center, get your game face on.