Kings have done good job of defending Canucks’ Henrik and Daniel Sedin
Success can be relative and the Kings have had success against two relatives in building a 2-1 series lead over the Vancouver Canucks.
Center Henrik Sedin, the NHL scoring champion, and his identical twin Daniel have had their moments but have not been dominant. Daniel has two goals and three points and Henrik has three assists; the other winger, Alex Burrows, has been shut out.
In splitting the first two games at Vancouver the Kings used Drew Doughty and Rob Scuderi as a shutdown defense pair against the Sedin line. The Kings had the last line change Monday and used it to get Brad Richardson, Michal Handzus and Fredrik Modin onto the ice, with generally good results.
“They’re special players. They’ve had an unbelievable year. But we’ve been doing a pretty good job,” Richardson said. “So hopefully we just keep hitting them, wearing them down, and eventually you hit them enough and they’ll stop going to those areas where they like to go.”
Richardson, incidentally, added ammunition for his next contract negotiations. He scored the winner Monday, leaving the Kings 11-0-1 in games in which he has scored.
“It’s nice anytime when you score and your team wins,” he said. “I didn’t know that stat. It’s kind of cool.”
Drew Doughty: the defenseman, the legend
Admit it…It certainly is a beguiling comparison: King defenseman Drew Doughty looking like a young Ray Bourque.
There’s one problem for Henrik Sedin.
“I will admit to you, I didn’t see Bourque [much],” Sedin said. “Even at the Olympics he was their best defenseman. That says a lot of things about him when guys like [ Chris] Pronger and [ Scott] Niedermayer and those guys are playing in that same tournament and he outplays those guys.”
Naturally, much of the talk after the Canucks’ optional practice Tuesday had to do with Doughty and fellow defenseman Jack Johnson, catalysts in the Kings’ seven-for-12 power-play success.
Said Canucks’ Coach Alain Vigneault: “Two things. They’ve got a lot of movement up there and they’ve got great fake and deception, because they’re faking sometimes, we’re buying into it and they can open the lane and they’re getting their shot through.”
The Canucks didn’t work on their woeful penalty killing at practice. Vigneault said rest for his players was more important and that corrections could be made through watching video.
“We’ve got some really good players that kill penalties for us that have done a great job throughout my time here,” he said. “For whatever reason, right now we’re maybe half a second behind.”
Roller-coaster ride
The ups and downs of goalie Roberto Luongo at Staples Center continued in Game 3. He gave up all eight goals in an 8-3 loss to the Kings April 1 and allowed four goals on 16 shots Monday before yielding to Andrew Raycroft.
“Sometimes things happen, and we’ve all seen that it’s happened to me the last month or two,” he said, adding that he has been able to bounce back. “Hopefully, this will be the last time but it probably won’t.”
He did get off a good line, a nod to the movie “Slap Shot” when asked what he thinks about on the bench after getting taken out of a game, saying with a smile: “I feel shame. I feel shame.”
Jones to return
Kings Coach Terry Murray said he will restore Randy Jones to the lineup after a two-game absence and take out Peter Harrold, who didn’t play in the third period Monday. “I think it’s just time to make a change there,” Murray said.
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