Vancouver
3rd Pacific36-27-3-3
Los Angeles
7th Pacific29-35-3-3
Vancouver @ Los Angeles preview
Staples Center
Last Meeting ( Oct 9, 2019 ) Los Angeles 2, Vancouver 8
The Vancouver Canucks scored at least five goals for the third consecutive contest in their last outing, and they needed just a shade over 19 minutes to do so. The Canucks aim to continue their high-scoring ways heading into Wednesday's opener of a three-game trek against the Los Angeles Kings, who have surrendered five goals in each of their last three contests.
J.T. Miller scored twice and reigning Calder Trophy recipient Elias Pettersson and defenseman Alex Edler each notched three assists in Monday's 7-2 romp over Florida, a game that featured all 12 Vancouver forwards recording at least a point. "It's great to have that all four lines can contribute and play good out there. It keeps everyone excited," Pettersson said. An enthusiastic Canucks club is not what Todd McLellan wants to encounter with his Kings surrendering 17 goals during a 1-3-0 road trip. "This trip was good because it let us know that there are some players that probably can't play in the league right now," McLellan said. "So maybe we'll have to make some changes. There's some veterans that really have to pick up their play. There are some individuals that get a fair amount of ice time that don't have an impact."
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, Sportsnet360, Sportsnet1 (Vancouver), FS West (Los Angeles)
ABOUT THE CANUCKS (7-3-1): Miller has taken flight in his first season in Vancouver, starting with a career-high four-point performance (one goal, three assists) on Oct. 9 as the Canucks ignited a 7-1-1 run with an 8-2 win over Los Angeles. The 26-year-old has a team-leading six goals and second-best 13 points in 11 games after mustering 13 and 47, respectively, in 75 contests with Tampa Bay in 2018-19. Pettersson has seven assists and eight points over his last four games to boost his team-leading totals in both categories (11, 14).
ABOUT THE KINGS (4-8-0): Defenseman Sean Walker scored his team's lone goal in Sunday's 5-1 loss to Chicago and also tallied in the third period of the lopsided setback versus Vancouver. Captain Anze Kopitar set up Walker's tally against the Canucks and resides one point shy of 900 for his career, but the team's early-season struggles are weighing heavily on him. "I don't know what the reason is," the 32-year-old Slovene said. "It's a combination of everything. Sometimes, a little bit of fatigue, sometimes it's just flat-out sloppiness, sometimes it's just flat-out stupidity. Sometimes, it's just being caught in between the old system and the new system. That combines into a lot of goals-against that we can't give up in order to win games."
OVERTIME
1. Vancouver is 7-0-2 in its last nine games versus Los Angeles.
2. Kings RW Tyler Toffoli recorded his 20th career point (12 goals, eight assists) against the Canucks when he scored in the first meeting.
3. Vancouver LW Tim Schaller has scored four goals in his past three contests, one more than he recorded in 47 games last season.
PREDICTION: Canucks 5, Kings 2