Kings Plummet To 0-3 To Start The Season
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Ryan Miller made 15 saves in his 36th career shutout, Adam Cracknell scored his second goal in two games, and the Vancouver Canucks completed a Southern California sweep with a 3-0 victory over the winless Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday night.
Alexander Edler scored and Derek Dorsett added an empty-net goal for the Canucks, who followed up a 2-1 shootout win over Anaheim on Monday by improving to 3-0-1.
Miller is off to a strong start after matching his career high with six shutouts last season, his first with the Canucks.
Jonathan Quick stopped 23 shots for struggling Los Angeles, which has been outscored 11-2 while losing three straight home games to open the season.
Since Nick Shore scored 1:49 into their season opener, the Kings have managed just one goal in 178 minutes, 11 seconds. Their power play is 0 for 13.
Quick made several big saves in his best effort of the season after giving up nine goals in Los Angeles' first two games, but the two-time Stanley Cup champion and 2012 Conn Smythe Trophy winner got no support from his teammates.
For the second straight night, the Canucks got another unlikely offensive contribution from Cracknell. The veteran forward who hadn't scored an NHL in 49 games since April 4, 2013, until he scored in back-to-back games in Southern California.
One night after banking a weird shot off Anaheim goalie Frederik Andersen for his seventh career NHL goal, Cracknell got his eighth with a one-timer that ricocheted off Quick, who didn't anticipate the shot being so far off-target.
Vancouver failed to score on a 5-on-3 advantage for 80 seconds later in the period, but Edler made it 2-0 with a long shot on a cross-ice pass from Henrik Sedin.
The Kings came up empty on three straight power plays early in the third period, and they rarely threatened to score before Dorsett wrapped it up.
NOTES: Jake Virtanen made his NHL debut for Vancouver, playing nearly 9 1-2 minutes and recording three hits. The 19-year-old forward was the sixth overall pick in 2014, and the British Columbia native made the Canucks' roster out of training camp after spending most of last season in juniors. ... Vancouver had lost six of eight to Los Angeles before winning the Pacific Division rivals' last three meetings.
(© Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
