By Canadian Press

Doughty, Fiala lead Los Angeles Kings to 5-1 road victory over Vancouver Canucks

Feb 29, 2024 | 11:02 PM

VANCOUVER — Drew Doughty and Kevin Fiala each had a goal and two assists as the Los Angeles Kings snapped a two-game losing streak with a 5-1 win over the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday night.

Anze Kopitar and Trevor Moore both had a goal and an assist for the Kings. Rookie Brandt Clarke scored his second career goal while Quinton Byfield also had two assists.

Doughty now has 501 career assists.

Brock Boeser scored on the power play for the Canucks.

The Kings (30-19-10) were playing their third game in four nights after dropping 4-2 decisions to Edmonton and Calgary.

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The Canucks are 1-5-1 in their last seven games but continue to lead the Western Conference with a 38-17-7 record.

Kings’ goaltender Cam Talbot stopped 22 shots while Thatcher Demko made 15 saves for Vancouver.

The Canucks opened the third period with their first goal of the night on a power play when Boeser rifled home a pass from J.T. Miller for his 35th of the season at 2:55, making the score 2-1.

It was Vancouver’s third power-play goal in 38 attempts over 12 games.

The Kings restored their two-goal lead just 1:32 later on their own power play. Kopitar took a long shot from just inside the blueline that Fiala slapped into the empty corner of the net from behind the goal line.

Clarke, dressed as a seventh defenceman for the Kings, scored on a pretty deke to make it 4-1 at 12:31. Moore made it 5-1 on a breakaway with a shot that trickled in off Demko’s pad at 15:38.

The Kings went ahead 2-0 early in the second on a heads-up play by Byfield. He took a pass from Doughty, skated behind the Canucks goal, then passed to an open Kopitar, who beat Demko with a high shot at 5:14.

Vancouver managed to apply some pressure later in the period.

Conor Garland’s shot off a rebound of a Tyler Myers’ wrap-around attempt rang off the post behind Talbot. A few minutes later Talbot gobbled up a Boeser blast from the slot, then held his ground when Elias Pettersson tried to jam in the puck at the side of the net.

The first was just 16 seconds old when Vancouver’s Arshdeep Bains was called for tripping. The Kings failed to score on that power play but Doughty gave L.A. a 1-0 lead with a slapshot through traffic that beat Demko on the stick side at 13:19.

NOTES: Vancouver’s Noah Juulsen got a roar from the crowd with a bone-crunching second-period hit that flattened Alex Laferriere. … Demko started his fifth straight game for the first time this season. … Vancouver managed just three shots on goal in the first, including a power play. … Canuck defenceman Dakota Joshua missed his seventh consecutive game with an upper-body injury. … The teams meet three more times before the season ends. …Kings leading scorer Adrian Kempe missed his second straight game and returned to L.A. to evaluate the wrist he injured Monday in Edmonton. … Talbot started his second consecutive game after David Rittich played the previous three.

WHAT’S NEXT: The Canucks head out for a three-game road trip against Anaheim on Sunday, L.A. on Tuesday and Las Vegas on Thursday before returning to Vancouver to open a nine-game homestand against Winnipeg March 9… The Kings return home for games Sunday against New Jersey, the Canucks on Tuesday, Ottawa on Thursday, Dallas on March 9 and the Islanders on March 11.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Fed. 29, 2024.

Jim Morris, The Canadian Press