The Canucks lost 3-2 in a typical low-event (boring) game to the Kings on Monday night. The Canucks had a chance to clinch a playoff berth, but that has been put on hold. A couple flukey goals were the difference last night as the puck bounced more the Kings’ way than the Canucks’. If you fell asleep, here are your highlights:



Playing the Kings isn’t fun – for the players, or the fans. They trap, they’re patient, they’re opportunistic. They play a strong, defensively sound game that translates well to the playoffs, but that isn’t too high on the excitement factor. I think Zadorov summed up the game pretty well:

“I mean, that's their system,” Big Z said. “They don't really make plays; they just rim the puck and sit back all game. I mean, it's their goal to don't play hockey and don't let the other team play hockey, pretty much. Yeah, it's hard to come back, especially when you're down two goals. They had one extra bounce than we did today, so that was the difference out there.”

The Kings got one more off-a-skate goal than the Canucks did last night, and that was basically it. The Canucks weren’t able to exert a ton of offensive zone pressure (especially in the third when they had just one shot the entire period before pulling DeSmith), and that’s something they’ll have to get better at come playoff time.

“It's just blue-paint stuff,” Tocchet said. “You've got to own the blue paint.

“It's a coin-flip type of game. They hit heads and won. They got a couple around the paint. I think that's really what it comes down to.”

Miller agreed: “We got some good pushes, but we have a hard time, I think, getting on the inside sometimes against those guys. Forwards have got to do a better job of getting there.”

It wasn’t a bad loss by any stretch, just a game the Canucks couldn’t get over the finish line. They’re at the top of the standings, and teams are gunning for them – which is the opposite it’s been for the past few years. The Canucks have become the measuring stick team this season, and it looked like the Kings wanted to put themselves in the Canucks’ territory more than the Canucks wanted to exert something else.

“Yeah, I mean, I don't want to speak on behalf of them, but we've been at the top of the league the whole year,” Miller said. “I think there's a time we can take pride in that. You know, we're certainly not satisfied. It's more of a game-to-game process type of thing for us. I don't love losing games, but when other teams are banging their sticks when that last puck is cleared out, they know they just beat a good hockey team. It says a lot.

“There's going to be a lot of hard games here coming down (the stretch). This is good, good prep for us. We've got to find a way to win games like that.”

Another good prep game is on the schedule for Thursday as the Canucks take on Dallas. It should be another playoff-like game, but hopefully on the more exciting side of the ledger.

* The Canucks were also without Lindholm last night, as his nagging injury has become big enough to miss games. Tocc was asked about it after the game:

“Somewhat maintenance and we’ve got to look at some stuff and evaluate every day,” he said.

He was then asked about the possibility of shutting him down to get ready for the playoffs.

“I don’t know at this point, to be honest with you,” added Tocchet. “It’s about feel and we’ll see how it shapes out day-to-day.”


Until then, the comments:



(Quotes from MacIntyre, and Kuzma)

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