What we learned from the Kings’ 5-0 victory over the Vancouver Canucks
Kings center Jordan Nolan fights with Canucks defenseman Andrey Pedan during a Dec. 28 game in Vancouver, Canada.
A few more takeaways from Monday night’s 5-0 win for the Kings in Vancouver, in addition to the four-point performance from Anze Kopitar and hat trick from Tyler Toffoli, as this swing through western Canada continues on Tuesday night at Edmonton:
McNabb is getting plenty of attention in Vancouver
The Kings were talking about the difference that defenseman Brayden McNabb made early when he appeared to catch the Canucks’ Henrik Sedin with an elbow in the head and promptly brought on the ire of Sedin’s teammates.
Sedin himself had plenty to say afterward.
“I thought it was a flying elbow to the head, but the ref said it was a clean hit,” he told reporters afterward in the Canucks’ dressing room. “I haven’t seen it yet. You have to trust the referees ... are making the right call. If they’re not, the league will have to look at it. The only point of contact on me was my face. “
Sedin was asked what the referee said to him.
“He said it was a clean hit. I’m sure they didn’t really see what happened,” Sedin said. “I’m surprised nothing worse happened. The only mistake I made was not staying down longer. That’s on me.”
Kings defense is stepping up … again
The non-Toffoli goals came from defensemen, McNabb and Derek Forbort, who scored his first in the NHL.
“We’ve been pretty good this year with the D stepping up and scoring big goals and we have to continue that,” McNabb said.
McNabb said he figured he was going to be a target because of his hit on Sedin.
“I knew I was going to have to do something. [Brandon] Prust is a great team guy so I knew something was going to happen,” McNabb said. “When you hit a guy like that, you gotta expect something. It’s part of the game.”
Kings defenseman Jake Muzzin, who logged just over 24 minutes of ice time, was strong in his own end, especially when it was still a tight game. Muzzin had his match penalty from the Arizona game on Saturday rescinded by the NHL, according to officials in the Kings’ hockey operations department and the league. The move was first reported by John Shannon of Sportsnet in Canada.
By doing this, Muzzin now has a “clean slate,” which is important in the event that any incident involving his play happens to come under review.
Minding the gap in the Pacific Division
After allowing 10 goals in the final two games before the holiday break, the Kings have rebounded with back-to-back wins over divisional rivals, the Coyotes and the Canucks.
“Obviously, it’s very important,” Kopitar said. “We’re in a pretty good position right now and that’s where we want to be. If we want to be there, we have to push the other teams back and no better way to do it than to beat them.
“We’ve stressed quite a bit on the importance of division games, and I thought two nights ago and tonight was a step in the right direction. We’ve got to keep on going.”
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