King Luck Doesn’t Change

Kirk McLean made 23 saves and four players scored as the Vancouver Canucks beat the Kings, 4-1, Monday night.

Cliff Ronning, Jesse Belanger, Leif Rohlin and Russ Courtnall scored for the Canucks as they won for only the second time in nine games.

Kevin Todd scored for the Kings, winless in seven games, in the second period to spoil McLean’s shutout bid. The Canucks outshot the Kings, 27-24.

Belanger gave the Canucks a 2-1 lead at 17:09 of the second period with his second goal in three games since being acquired from the Florida Panthers.

Vancouver (29-31-15) reclaimed sole possession of fifth place in the Western Conference, two points ahead of the Calgary Flames, by winning for the first time in four games against the Kings. The first three ended in ties.

Los Angeles dropped to 21-38-16 and likely will miss the playoffs for the second year in a row.

Vancouver scored the only goal of the first period when Ronning deflected a shot by Alexander Mogilny.

The Kings tied it when Todd jammed home a rebound at the crease after Vancouver defenders played the puck instead of the man during a four-on-four situation.

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King Note

Right wing Vitali Yachmenev did not play because of a lower leg contusion, having been slashed in Saturday’s 4-4 tie with Dallas. Preliminary X-rays were negative.