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Three takeaways from Canucks 2-1 shootout loss to LA Kings

By Joshua Rey |
Dec 30, 2021; Los Angeles, California, USA; LA Kings center Adrian Kempe (9) shoots the puck against Vancouver Canucks goaltender Jaroslav Halak (41) in the second period at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 30, 2021; Los Angeles, California, USA; LA Kings center Adrian Kempe (9) shoots the puck against Vancouver Canucks goaltender Jaroslav Halak (41) in the second period at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
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As the old saying goes: All good things must come to an end. The Vancouver Canucks winning streak has ended at seven games.

After a 2-1 win over the Anaheim Ducks, the Canucks travelled up the freeway to the recently renamed Crypto.Com Arena (Which is a horrible name and it will always be called the Staples Center to me.) in Downtown Los Angeles to take on the LA Kings.

Before the game, it was announced Justin Dowling entered the COVID-19 protocol and he joins Brock Boeser, Phil Di Giuseppe, and one staff member on the protocol. As a result, Matthew Highmore suited up for his first game since October 28 against the Philadelphia Flyers and he has been dealing with a lower-body injury since then.

Dan Murphy of Sportsnet reported that the Canucks will fly back to Vancouver after the game against LA and fly to Seattle on Saturday. That way, if a player tests positive he can isolate at home instead of a hotel. That is a smart move by the organization.

The game started off with hardly any whistles and not a lot of scoring chances from both sides. However, the Kings turned on the gas pedal and were the much better team and they opened the scoring thanks to Brendan Lemieux deflecting Christian Wolanin’s shot past Jaroslav Halak after some relentless forecheck on Quinn Hughes and Luke Schenn losing the puck in his skates.

You have to give the Canucks credit for finding a way to get back in the game but unfortunately, overtime solved nothing and they couldn’t get it done in the shootout. The good news is that the Canucks have yet to lose in regulation under Boudreau.

Here are three takeaways from the Canucks 2-1 shootout loss in LA.

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – DECEMBER 30: Viktor Arvidsson #33 of the Los Angeles Kings shoots the puck against Jaroslav Halak #41 of the Vancouver Canucks during the second period at Crypto.com Arena on December 30, 2021 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Katelyn Mulcahy/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – DECEMBER 30: Viktor Arvidsson #33 of the Los Angeles Kings shoots the puck against Jaroslav Halak #41 of the Vancouver Canucks during the second period at Crypto.com Arena on December 30, 2021 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Katelyn Mulcahy/Getty Images) /

#1 The Canucks owe Jaroslav Halak free meals

Halak has looked good as the backup this year except he has only had one win so far and has not had a lot of goal support. There wasn’t a lot of goal support for him Thursday night, unfortunately.

Halak was clearly Vancouver’s best player. He managed to stop 34 out of 35 Kings shots. The veteran netminder was making some great saves particularly with his pads including this one on Kempe.

Without Halak, the Kings could have won by a much larger margin.

“He was unbelievable tonight,” said Bo Horvat. “That game could’ve been a lot worse than it was. He stood on his head.”

Halak also managed to stop Lemiuex on a penalty shot.

Halak also went two for four in the shootout but he was the biggest reason why the Canucks got to that point as he was saving shots that looked like they were going to be goals from LA.

Halak deserves some free food and drink or a late Christmas gift after a very good performance.

#2 The Canucks clearly looked tired

The Canucks were playing the second of a back-to-back and it was kind of expected that they would start off slow.

The team clearly looked tired and didn’t look like a team on a seven-game winning streak. For most of the game, the offence was hard to come by as they didn’t get any high danger scoring chances on Jonathan Quick.

They were also not connecting their passes, had a hard time winning the puck battles, and the defending let players like Anze Kopitar and Adrian Kempe get by them easily. There were also some pretty bad turnovers.

The second period was pretty much all Kings in particular. The Kings outshot the Canucks 17-3 in the middle frame. According to NaturalStatTrick, Vancouver had only 13.51% Corsi for in the second while LA 86.49%. The Kings had 36 shot attempts in the second while the Canucks only had six.

The Canucks looked like a bunch of zombies from the Walking Dead in the second.

“36-6 isn’t any indication of an NHL team playing well,” said Boudreau after the game per Patrick Johnston of The Province and Vancouver Sun.

It’s tough for a team to perform at the same level they did on the first game of a back-to-back but it can’t be an excuse. That second period was tough to watch and letting the Kings have 36 shot attempts in one period and having only six isn’t acceptable.

Thankfully, the Canucks only got scored on once and snagged a point thanks to Halak but they should have helped him out more.

Dec 30, 2021; Los Angeles, California, USA; Vancouver Canucks center Bo Horvat (53) celebrates after a goal against the LA Kings in the third period at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 30, 2021; Los Angeles, California, USA; Vancouver Canucks center Bo Horvat (53) celebrates after a goal against the LA Kings in the third period at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports /

#3 Bo Horvat and J.T . Miller come in clutch

Horvat got the only goal of the game for the Canucks on their only man-advantage of the game.

First, let’s talk about the assist from J.T. Miller. While falling, he manages to get the pass off to Horvat who buries it into the wide-open cage.

He looked like Superman making that pass.

Horvat also had the chance to end it in overtime on a breakaway but he was foiled by Quick. He also got the Canucks only goal in the shootout.

However, Boudreau wants more players than just Horvat and Miller doing the scoring and he didn’t hold back his words on the lack of offence.

“We can’t expect to win every night if it’s only Horvat and Miller and (Elias) Pettersson and (Conor) Garland doing the scoring,” said Boudreau. ” We need all our forwards to start contributing, and I didn’t think a lot of them were contributing a lot very much tonight.”

Other notes

  • Speaking of Pettersson, it wasn’t a good game from him. Other than that one chance he skied over the net in the third, he looked like he was wearing an invisibility cloak. His 22.22% CF was the second lowest on the team and they were outshot 10-3 at five on five when he was on the ice.
  • Tanner Pearson was chosen to extend the game for the Canucks in the shootout but he couldn’t convert. I would have gone with Nils Höglander or even Vasily Podkolzin,but oh well. It was a rough game for the former King as he made some pretty sloppy turnovers, didn’t register a single shot on goal and had the lowest CF on the team at 19.35%. The Canucks were also outshot 10-1 when Pearson was on the ice.
  • Sportsnet insider Elliotte Friedman reported on Thursday afternoon that the Canucks home games on January 5 (against the New York Islanders.) and January 8 (against the Ottawa Senators) might be postponed. We shall await confirmation from the league within the coming days.

The Canucks will try to get back in the win column as they visit the Seattle Kraken next year. (The game is on New Year’s Day.)

Next. Canucks: 3 takeaways from 2-1 OT win against Anaheim. dark

On behalf of The Canuck Way team, I’d like to wish all of you a happy new year! Once again, thank you for reading our articles over the course of this difficult year and hopefully 2022 means brighter days for everyone are on the horizon.

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