Vancouver Canucks: 3 keys to victory over the LA Kings

The Vancouver Canucks fly into Los Angeles to take on the Kings in the second day of a back to back after a tough to watch game against the Coyotes in the desert. The Canucks will look to bounce back and pickup a win, here are three keys to victory over those Kings in La La Land

Sunday’s game was hard to watch, there’s no way around that and with game 70 just around the corner the Vancuver Canucks will try and finish this season with some integrity and that starts with showing some effort.

Newcomer Brendan Leipsic has had a good start with the Canucks. His effort levels are high and he is one of the stronger forecheckers that I have seen in years. Leipsic is averaging over 17 minutes a game of ice time and has had plenty of scoring chances for the injury ridden Canucks.

Those injuries have really limited the team’s ability to score.

That could be a problem because the Kings give up the least goals in the NHL, with an average of 2.54 per game. The Kings have great defensive forwards such as Anze Kopitar, Dustin Brown and Adrian Kempe.

Drew Doughty runs things on the back end, where he averages over 26 and a half minutes of ice time a game. Doughty has everything you could ask for in a franchise defenceman and at 28 years old the Canucks can only dream about the future when one day we can love our franchise defenceman. #RaceForDahlin

And though its not good for the race for Dahlin, here are three keys to beat the LA Kings.

Contain Kopitar and Doughty

Kopitar is over a point a game so far this season and drives the team on the offensive and defensive ends of the ice. Kopitar has five game winning goals this season, has only taken eight minor penalties and averages 22 minutes of ice time a night.

Kopitar is one of the best centres in all the NHL and can change any game with a flick of the wrist. He’s something that Bo Horvat should thrive to become, and should thrive to shut down Monday night.

Doughty is second on the team in powerplay points with 15, he is a prototypical powerplay quarterback and if you can contain him on the powerplay it will do a lot of good.

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If the Canucks can contain these two all stars they will have a shot at keeping the Kings off the scoreboard or at least keeping them under four or five goals.

Travis Green needs lots of energy

The Canucks travelled from Arizona Sunday night and have to come with energy against the Kings, it shouldn’t be hard because it seemed as they were saving their energy against the Coyotes.

Coach Travis Green will try his hardest to not be embarrassed in back to back games. If that takes a shake up in the lines or a sit down talk with some leaders in the locker room coach Green has to find a way to light a fire under this team.

A shake up in goal is possible but not guaranteed, Travis Green has gone with Jacob Markstrom in back to back nights. Anders Nilsson is the logical pick on back to back games but Green has been inconsistent with what he has done on back to back nights.

Once again, forecheck

The Canucks will have to drive the forecheck and be al lot more physical than they were against the Coyotes. These Kings are in a tight race for the final wildcard spot in the Western Conference and they will be playing hard so they can take steps to securing that spot.

With the 28th place Canucks coming into town the Kings will surely be confident that they can get these two points at home. That leaves the door open for the Canucks to win this game with effort and high energy. If the young player like Leipsic, Jake Virtanen and Nikolay Goldobin can show some speed and drive the play the Canucks will stand a chance on Monday night.

Next: Canucks top prospects week 21: Elias Pettersson makes history

In the end, there are only 13 games left in the season for the Canucks and more fans are excited for the NHL draft lottery than to tune into the games right now. Injuries struck again and it’s starting to not surprise anyone when it happens year after year. Let’s all try and brave through these final games together and raise a beer when we win the Rasmus Dahlin draft lottery. I hate to quote him, but as Lavar Ball said “I’m going to speak it into existence”. Let’s all do that for Rasmus Dahlin.