March 28 Rapid Reaction (feat. Hoover): Canucks 3, Kings 2 (SO)

Rapid Reaction, feat. Hoover, Senior Producer at FOX Sports West

Post-game Quotes

Willie Desjardins, on the shootout loss:
I think both teams played hard. I liked the fact that we came back in the third and found a way to tie it up, but then you certainly wish you could’ve gotten alittle bit more at the end.

Desjardins, on the effect of Dustin Brown being recognized by the organization and his teammates:
The only thing that could’ve done is give us energy. It’s always great when a guy like him sets a record. He’s so well respected in that room, he’s been such a big part of that team. Not only the Cup runs – he was there in the bad times and was one of the key guys of turning it around and creating the right culture. He was a really key guy in that. He’s got an awful lot of respect in that room, and that wouldn’t hurt us tonight, that would’ve just helped us tonight.

Desjardins, on Jonathan Quick’s overtime saves on Brock Boeser:
He was playing his 600th game tonight, and he’s such a competitor and such a winner. He probably hasn’t had the year he wants, but boy, every night he’s there and every night he tries. There’s not one shot that I’ve seen the whole year that he hasn’t tried on. You’ve got to admire the guy for his ability to battle, and that was a huge save. It kind of represents what kind of guy he is. He just doesn’t give up.

Dustin Brown, on becoming the all-time franchise leader in regular season games played:
It’s something you never think about, so I just put my head down and work and eventually get to places when you look up, you’re at some places you never thought you’d be.

Brown, on coming back from a 2-1 deficit in the third period:
It was a good response. We had opportunities. I wish we had a little bit more killer instinct on the power play. We had two late power plays. Power play late and power play in overtime. We need to learn. We’re out of playoffs, but that’s the difference between playoff teams and non-playoff teams is letting opportunities like that slip through your fingers. Good teams find a way to capitalize.

Brown, on Quick’s save on Brock Boeser in overtime:
That’s Quickie. The save on Boeser might have been one of the best saves I’ve ever seen him make and that’s a lot of really good saves, so he played really well for us.

Brown, on if his approach to tonight’s game was the same as usual:
They did something in the room. I’d rather keep private. I mean a little harder to get going a little bit, but it was really good and it’s just, like I said — I said this after my 1,000th game — it’s one game when you really think about it. It’s just a big one because you’re setting a record, but it’s an accumulation thing. So, once I kind of got going I felt fine. I didn’t play very well, but you have games.

Brown, on the Kings-Canucks rivalry:
I think it’s just the history. I mean both teams are out of the playoffs, so you don’t know what you’re going to get, but we had a rivalry going back to when maybe 2008-2009 was our first playoffs against them. We’ve played them back and forth, lots of division games, so division games have the potential to be a little more spicy.

Brown, on having big seasons this year and last year:
Part of it’s preparation, part of it’s getting an opportunity.

Drew Doughty, on the level of compete he saw in tonight’s game:
Well we’re all competing for jobs next year. We want to compete for more minutes. We love playing the game of hockey and we’re committed to making this team better every night. We all play with heart and we all compete and that’s what we ask. We want wins obviously, but you can live with an overtime loss if you compete and play as hard as you can.

Doughty, on wanting to get the win for Brown tonight:
Oh, yeah. It seemed like it was going to play out perfectly in the shootout there and I thought he was going to get that goal, but the goalie made a nice save. We would’ve really liked to get it for him, but still, overall it’s a great night for him and such a great accomplishment.

Doughty, on Quick’s overtime save on Boeser:
That was a great save. He made a few great saves tonight actually. The one in the second too, I was on for, made a great save. I’ve got to play that 2-on-1 better, but he’s always got my back when I mess up and that’s why we love him.

Post-game Notes

— With the shootout loss, Los Angeles fell to 111-105-38 all-time against Vancouver, a record that includes a road mark of 44-62-19. The Kings lost three of the four games in the season series, going 1-1-2, winning only one game of a season series of at least four games against the Canucks for the first time since 2009-10.

— With the shootout loss, Los Angeles fell to 19-21-5 against the Western Conference, 12-10-3 against the Pacific Division, 13-8-9 in one-goal games, 20-5-3 when scoring first, 12-0-2 when leading after one period, 7-5-4 when tied after two periods, 8-8 in games that extend past regulation, 3-4 in games decided in a shootout and 11-16-3 when outshooting their opponent.

— Jonathan Quick fell to 2-3 in shootouts this season and 44-34 in his career. By stopping three of four shooters, he is now 193/278 (.694) in his career against individual shooters. Adrian Kempe fell to 1/5 this season and 3/8 in his career. Anze Kopitar fell to 3/7 this season and 40/105 in his career. Dustin Brown fell to 0/4 this season and 19/67 in his career. Alex Iafallo fell to 0/3 this season and in his career.

— By playing in his 1,112th NHL game, Dustin Brown surpassed Dave Taylor’s franchise games played record. With 1,111 games played, Taylor, who retired after the final game of the 1993-94 season, is followed in club history by Luc Robitaille (1,077), Anze Kopitar (998), and Marcel Dionne (921).

— Brown’s 1,112 games rank 171st in NHL history and immediately behind Brad Park, Doug Harvey and Steve Duchesne, all of whom played 1,113 NHL games. He ranks eighth among active players in games played, trailing Patrick Marleau, Joe Thornton, Matt Cullen, Zdeno Chara, Justin Williams, Jay Bouwmeester and Eric Staal. Among players who played for only one franchise, Brown ranks 18th in games played. Among American players, he ranks 23rd.

— Jonathan Quick played his 600th game. He is the 51st goalie in league history to reach that milestone and ranks ninth among active goalies, trailing Roberto Luongo (1,041 GP), Henrik Lundqvist (855), Marc-Andre Fleury (796), Ryan Miller (755), Cam Ward (698), Carey Price (621), Pekka Rinne (619) and Craig Anderson (611).

— Anze Kopitar played his 998th career game.

— Los Angeles went 0-for-1 on the penalty kill for the second consecutive game.

— With his 94th career goal, Alex Edler set the Vancouver franchise record for goals by a defenseman, surpassing Mattias Ohlund’s 93 goals.

— In his NHL debut, Quinn Hughes played 15:36 and finished with one assist, an even rating, two shots on goal and one takeaway.

— Brown’s miss was his 11th straight shootout miss since a goal on Antti Niemi in the fifth round of an eight-round, 3-2 shootout loss at San Jose on November 27, 2013. He has converted his last two penalty shots, November 22, 2015 at Carolina and November 3, 2018 vs Columbus.

— The Kings finished with 78 shot attempts (39 on goal, 19 blocked, 20 missed). The Canucks finished with 71 shot attempts (38 on goal, 21 blocked, 12 missed). Jake Virtanen finished with a game-high five shots on goal, while Adrian Kempe, Alec Martinez and Tyler Toffoli finished with a team-high four shots. Kurtis MacDermid, who finished with an assist and a plus-one rating in 12:26 of ice time, was the only L.A. skater to finish the game without a shot on goal.

— Los Angeles won 30-of-59 faceoffs (51%). Adrian Kempe won 3-of-12, Michael Amadio won 3-of-5, Anze Kopitar won 11-of-23, Alex Iafallo won 1-of-1 and Jeff Carter won 12-of-18.

Friday, March 29 is an off-day for the team. The next practice is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, March 30 in advance of that night’s game against Chicago.

Post-game Highlights

–Lead photo via Jeff Vinnick/NHLI