'It was the wrong call': Canucks lose to Kings in overtime on power-pl

The Vancouver Canucks couldn’t beat the trend — or the Los Angeles Kings — and are heading to Hollywood tied 1-1 in their opening-round Stanley Cup playoff series.

All seven series that have reached the two-game pole are even at 1-1. Every team that won its opener lost the next time out, and the Canucks were no exception Saturday night.

Coach Alain Vigneault’s skaters fell 3-2 to the Kings in overtime despite leading by two goals midway through the opening period.

They lost it on the penalty kill, a sore point all season long, as Anze Kopitar netted the winner at the 7:28 mark of the first overtime session. Kyle Wellwood was serving a bench minor for too many men on the ice, a call that didn’t sit well with the Canucks’ coach.

“It was the wrong call,” Vigneault stated. “You’re allowed five feet and the rule is the player coming on the ice cannot play the puck. Yeah, the puck touched one of our players … it touched Kevin Bieksa trying to get off the ice because he was cut. We’ve got two referees with red stripes on their sweaters and they should make the call if they think it’s a penalty, not the linesman. It’s unfortunate, but that’s the way it is.”

The series now shifts to the Staples Center for Games 3 and 4 Monday and Wednesday.

L.A. went 2-for-6 on its power play and has now torched Vigneault’s inept penalty killing four times in nine tries. The Canucks went 1-for-3 Saturday. The only reason the series is tied 1-1 is Vancouver’s penchant for taking bad penalties, with Andrew Alberts being the chief culprit.

Alberts , who cost the Canucks a third-round entry draft pick at the trade deadline, took three more minors Saturday. He has likely played his way out of Vigneault’s lineup.

Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/opinion/letters/wrong+call+Canucks+lose+Kings+overtime+power+play+goal/2920530/story.html#ixzz0lTWFazgF


2 Responses to 'It was the wrong call': Canucks lose to Kings in overtime on power-pl

  1. leafy says:

    Before the playoffs, I thought the Kings would be in trouble because Quick was really struggling down the stretch. But so far he's hanging in there despite a soft goal last night.

    Overall L.A. played better in game 2. And the Canucks have to improve their penalty kill if they want this series.

    The Kings trio of Doughty, Johnson and Scuderi is a nice tandem at D. Also Doughty played 33 minutes in Game 2. Very impressive.

  2. Bure96 says:

    I would rather have Nolan Baumgartner in the lineup then Andrew Alberts. Some team might like him in a package with Cory Schneider, considering the return for the goalie will probably be a defensemen and Vancouver's trading partner will want some NHL experience to make up for the loss, but he is sooooo slow. I'm not sure how he wasn't really exposed in the East. Evan Oberg, Aaron Rome, and Baumgartner would all be better options at this point. He hits, but he takes terrible penalties, and is by far the worst player on the ice.

    I would like to see Evan Oberg get into the lineup. The kid's a good hockey player. My only concern is experience. They've got injuries on the backend, so would you really want to give a kid who's only played 2 NHL games as much as 13 minutes a night against a highly skilled Kings team? Maybe not, but Shane O'Brien is a very underrated player, and I wouldn't mind giving him + the other 4 regulars 20+ minutes a night. I like Aarom Rome as 6th defender too though. He's unspectacular, but he's not going to be a liability, which is all you can ask for from a guy who's normally 8th on the depth chart.

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