Canucks Skate Past Kings, 2-1, In Shootout
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Chris Higgins scored in the shootout and Eddie Lack made 36 saves as the Vancouver Canucks earned a critical late-season victory over the Los Angeles Kings, 2-1, on Monday night.
Daniel Sedin scored in regulation as the Canucks solidified second place in the Pacific Division with 97 points, four ahead of Calgary and the Kings. The Canucks, who now control their playoff destiny, have two games remaining.
Dwight King scored for the defending Stanley Cup champion Kings, who moved into a third-place tie at 93 points with Calgary. However, the Flames own a tiebreaker with more regulation and overtime wins.
Los Angeles also dropped one point behind Winnipeg of the Central Division for the second wild card in the Western Conference.
Jonathan Quick made 37 saves for Los Angeles.
The Kings jumped in front only 1:13 in when Jeff Carter skated hard down the right side and sent the puck into the crease, where King put it home.
Lack stood tall on a 2-on-1 break to stop Anze Kopitar, who took a pass from Marian Gaborik. And Quick made an equally spectacular save seconds later when he robbed Ronald Kenins from in close.
Vancouver defenseman Luca Sbisa almost tied it eight minutes into the third. Sbisa was wide open in the slot, but his hard slap shot was redirected just wide.
The Canucks finally solved Quick midway in the period. Henrik Sedin skated behind the net before backhanding a no-look pass to his brother at the faceoff circle. Daniel fired it past Quick and the crowd erupted. The assist was Henrik Sedin's 700th.
Notes: The Canucks finish with home games against Arizona and Edmonton on Thursday and Saturday, respectively. ... The Kings have three more games, at Calgary, at Edmonton, and back home to San Jose.
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