FINAL – Kings 5, Canucks 1 – Talbot, Doughty, Hiller

The LA Kings capped off their Western Canada roadtrip with a complete, 60-minute effort, a 5-1 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday evening at Rogers Arena.

The Kings got on the board with the only goal from the first period, as defenseman Drew Doughty opened the scoring on the evening. Forward Kevin Fiala slowed things down off the rush and found a trailing Doughty in the slot. The Kings blueliner one-timed the pass into the back of the net, past Vancouver netminder Thatcher Demko, for his 14th goal of the season, one shy of the NHL lead amongst defensemen.

After another tight-checking period, the visitors doubled their advantage through 40 minutes through forward Anze Kopitar. After Doughty kept the puck alive along the wall, forward Quinton Byfield collected the puck below the goal line and fed Kopitar in the left-hand circle, where he one-timed the pass high on the glove side for the goal. With the secondary helper, Doughty recorded the 500th assist of his NHL career.

Less than three minutes into the third period, the Canucks got on the board with a power-play goal, cutting their deficit to one. Forward Brock Boeser wired a shot through traffic in front, past Kings netminder Cam Talbot, for his 35th goal of the season. Boeser has 15 career goals from 17 games played against the Kings.

Shortly thereafter, the Kings answered with a power-play goal of their own, restoring the two-goal advantage early in the third period. Forward Kevin Fiala took the puck the length of the ice, into the offensive zone, before dishing off to Kopitar. Fiala then drove the net and buried the return feed at the back post for his fifth goal in his last six games played. Kopitar and Doughty collected the assists on the play, Kopitar’s second point of the game and Doughty’s third.

As the third period wound down, the Kings added two more goals, bringing the scoreline to the eventual final of 5-1.

First, Byfield and defenseman Brandt Clarke combined on a give-and-go off the rush, culminating with the young defenseman’s second career NHL goal. Clarke dished over to Byfield skating through the neutral zone and after gaining the offensive blue line, Byfield delayed before returning the pass to Clarke, who deked to the backhand for the goal and a 4-1 advantage.

As the third period wound down, forward Trevor Moore put the icing on the cake with a breakaway goal of his own. Fiala threaded the needle to give Moore a step on a pair of Canucks. Moore then worked his way to the net, deked to the backhand and slipped his shot through the five hole and in, his 23rd goal of the season.

Hear from Talbot, Doughty and Head Coach Jim Hiller following tonight’s win.

Cam Talbot

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Drew Doughty
On if that was the most complete 60 minutes this team has played all season
Yeah, probably, to be honest. We played great right from the puck drop. I was so proud and so happy with our team’s performance tonight. We played the full 60 minutes. Every single player played well, there wasn’t one guy, one dog out there and that’s why won.

On the team’s defensive play tonight with a commitment to doing things the right way
Just the willingness to do anything it takes to get the job done. When we do that, we’re a really good team and we’re a frustrating team to play against. At times, I thought we frustrated their guys and then we came back and got goals. Yeah, it’s just everyone buying in and doing whatever it takes.

On if the 11/7 alignment changes anything
My icetime doesn’t really change, but I’m sure it wasn’t easy for Clarkie, only having four shifts a period or something like that. It’s probably something he’s not used to, but he stayed a pro, he did whatever it took and then he came up with a huge goal for us. So, good on him and good on everyone else in the lineup.

On his 14th goal of the season and if he’s feeling anything different offensively
Just got the one timer back. I’ve always had it, guys are making good passes to me, obviously and then there’s always guys screening in front of the net. When I have that, just as long as I can get the puck up, a lot of times it’s going to go in and they’ve been going in for me this year. I’m pretty proud of that.

On getting his 500th career assist and having it come on an Anze Kopitar goal
It’s cool and apparently it was on Kopi’s goal too. Me and Kopi played together for a long time, there’s not a guy that I look for more than him. In my entire career, there’s not another guy that I’d rather play with than him. For it to be on his goal, I think that makes it extra special.

Jim Hiller
On the team’s performance in tonight’s game
I thought we played really well. I mean, we played really well in Edmonton for two periods, we talked about it, didn’t have a great third. In Calgary, we were slow, we got better. I thought tonight was probably, 1 through 60, our best game, our most complete game anyway, since I’ve taken over.

On Cam Talbot’s performance tonight
Yeah, absolutely. We had shot blocks, but when it finally made its way to Talbs, he was there to make the save. So, he’s back, he’s getting his mojo back again and it’s great to see, we’ll need that.

On Drew Doughty’s play tonight and his level throughout the season
Yeah, a terrific game for Drew. The leadership between him and Kopi in particular, a game like this, that last game of a trip is always the toughest game. Then, to see them go out and not only lead but then perform on the ice the way they do, with the games and the time that they have in the league already, it’s a special thing to be part of.

On the decision to play 11 forwards and 7 defensemen tonight
We didn’t want to keep Clarkie out for too long, so I know he didn’t play that much, he played the power play but we just thought we were fresh enough coming off the day off that we could manage 11 guys up front and again just to get Clarkie in, make sure he wasn’t out for too long.

On a career-high in icetime for forward Quinton Byfield
It’s a product of how he can skate and the energy that he has. He probably could have played another three or four to be honest with you, he didn’t even look tired, but he’s somebody that we can double back and, he plays good minutes for us. In this type of a game, when you need to check, Quinton can handle that.

Notes –
– Drew Doughty (1-2=3) scored his 14th goal of the season as part of his 15th career three-point outing, the third-most among all defensemen in franchise history behind Rob Blake (17) and Steve Duchesne (19). With his assist, Doughty hit the 500-assist mark in his career to become the seventh active defenseman to tally 500 career assists. He is also the sixth player, and first blueliner, to record 500 helpers with the Kings franchise.
– Doughty has scored 14 goals in a season for just the third time in his career, his first such season since his Norris Trophy winning campaign in 2015-16 (14G) and sits only two goals shy of tying his career high of 16 set in 2009-10. The goal was Doughty’s 11th slap shot goal this season, the most by any skater. Since the league started tracking goals by shot type in 2009-10, Doughty’s 83 slap shot goals are fourth-most among all skaters and second-most by a defenseman behind Shea Weber (118).
– Anze Kopitar (1-1=2) notched his 18th goal and 32nd assist of the season to hit the 50-point mark (18-32=50). It is the 17th time in his career he has reached the 50-point mark in a single season, joining Sidney Crosby (17) and Alex Ovechkin (17) for the most such campaigns by an active skater.
– With his pair of points, Kopitar also extended his point streak to a third game (1-3=4) and road point streak into a sixth game (3-4=7). It is Kopitar’s 10th multi-point game of the season, the 17th time in his career he has recorded 10-or-more multi-point efforts in one campaign.
– Kopitar now sits at 1,191 career points (411-780=1,191), nine shy of becoming 52nd player in league history, and second Kings skater behind Marcel Dionne (550-757=1307; 921 GP), to record 1,200 career points.
– Per NHL PR, Kopitar and Doughty factored on the same goal for the 298th and 299th time in their careers, which ranks 30th among duos in NHL history. When both players factor on the same goal, the Kings own an overall record of 166-81-20.
– Kevin Fiala (1-2=3) tallied his 18th goal and his team-leading 33rd and 34th helpers of the season for his team-leading 52nd point (18-34=52) on the year. It is the fourth time in his career Fiala has hit 50-or-more points, the second-most such seasons by a Swiss-born player in league history (Roman Josi, 8).
– Trevor Moore (1-1=2) registered his 23rd goal of the season and 17th assist for his 40th point of the campaign. It is Moore’s second career 40-point season (17-31=48 in 2021-22). Moore becomes the fourth California-born skater in league history to record multiple 40-point season, joining Jason Robertson (4), Jason Zucker (5) and Auston Matthews (8)
– Brandt Clarke (1-0=1) scored his second goal of the season. Clarke is the first King to net his second career goal against the Canucks since Jack Johnson on Jan. 19, 2008 .
– Quinton Byfield (0-2=2) collected a pair of assists for his 45th and 46th points (18-28=46) of the campaign. It is Byfield’s 11th multi-point performance this year. Byfield’s 25 road points (7-18=25) tie Tim Stützle (8-17=25) for the most by a skater selected in the 2020 NHL Draft this season.
– Trevor Lewis (0-1=1) netted his sixth assist of the season for his 99th career helper as a member of the Kings, sitting one assist shy of becoming the seventh U.S.-born skater in franchise history to tally 100 assists with the franchise.
– Cam Talbot turned aside 22 of 23 shots faced to earn his 17th victory of the year and improve his season record to 17-14-5.

The Kings are not scheduled to practice tomorrow, upon returning home from Vancouver. The team will return to the ice for practice on Saturday, March 2, at 11 AM at Toyota Sports Performance Center.