Matchups are important in any playoff series, and give Vancouver coach Alain Vigneault credit for a move that worked well in Game 4. The Canucks moved up Mikael Samuelsson to a line with Henrik and Daniel Sedin, and the line was very difficult for the Kings to control in the third period. Today, the Kings talked about that new-look first line for the Canucks and what they need to do in order to try to control it…

SMYTH: “Obviously their big players stepped up. The Sedins, when they get the puck, they’re effective. In Game 1, they were like that. In Game 2, and in Game 3 more so, we had more puck possession. I think if we limit their puck possession, we’ll have a better chance.”

Question: What kind of a different look did the Canucks have with Samuelsson with the Sedins?

SMYTH: “They’re two different players in my mind. Burrows is more in the corners, rugged, hanging around the net area, whereas Samuelsson is more out at the top of the circles, a shooter. He’s obviously been effective this series. He’s got five goals. So it’s a different element, but we’ve got to eliminate the puck possession.”

Continue reading ‘A new challenge’ »

A lot of the talk today was about last night’s game being a missed opportunity for the Kings, given that they held a third-period lead but lost and now must win at least one game in Vancouver in order to take the series. Since there was no practice today, it’s hard to get much of a read on how the Kings are dealing with last night’s loss, but today, Ryan Smyth and Anze Kopitar did their best to project a positive attitude going into tomorrow’s Game 5…

SMYTH: “That’s playoff hockey. It all comes down to, when you’ve got your opportunities, you’ve got to bury them. We had opportunities last game, in the first couple periods, to put them, I think, away, but give them credit. They played hard, they battled hard and obviously they didn’t want to go down 3-1 in the series. That’s where we’re at right now, 2-2.”

KOPITAR: “It’s definitely tough to swallow, especially the way we played the first two periods. We just gave them a little life and they took advantage of it.”

Terry Murray said he is contemplating a lineup change to get Justin Williams back in the lineup, but said he would continue to think about it today. No changes on defense are expected. Lots of talk about the emotional side of the game, given that the Kings were one good period away from a 3-1 series lead but are now tied, without home-ice advantage. More from this afternoon to come…

The Kings have called off this morning’s on-ice practice, which had been scheduled to start at 11 a.m. There will be media availability at 11:45 a.m., followed by the flight to Vancouver, so I’ll have reports from that…

Here are some quotes from the Canucks tonight, with a major assist from ESPN.com’s Pierre LeBrun…

Roberto Luongo’s postgame thoughts…

(on his third-period save on Frolov…)
“Obviously we were taking a few chances there to try and tie the game up. On Frolov I just wanted to do something a little different and he ended up shooting and I got a piece.”

(on how he feels now…)
“I felt great, but obviously it was a high-scoring game. Sometimes you just have to make the saves that get the win. At the end of the day when the game is on the line you have to make the save.”

Continue reading ‘Canucks postgame quotes’ »

Here’s my LAKings.com game story for tonight, with stats and video included. Thanks for reading!

Canucks beat Kings 6-4

I’ll have some Vancouver quotes to post a bit later.

Terry Murray’s postgame thoughts…

(on the game-winning goal…)
MURRAY: “We ended up with two players behind the net. It looked like Simmonds just fell down, and Kopi might have been waiting for a reverse play. I’m not sure. He ended up standing behind the net, and Smytty is, I think, thinking the same, that maybe the puck is going to come to him, so he is on the boards at the top of the circle. You get caught flat-footed and it becomes an odd rush. Now we commit at the blue line, and you have to have a read on that. Just back in. If it’s a 4-on-2, just back in and hope that support is going to come.”

Continue reading ‘Murray postgame quotes’ »

Quotes from Matt Greene, Ryan Smyth and Anze Kopitar…

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Matt Greene’s postgame thoughts…
GREENE: “We were expecting a long series against these guys, and they came out and had a great third. They showed what their team can do. They’ve got a great top line there, and Luongo made some key saves for them. That’s a third period that we wanted to avoid against them, but I think they showed us what they can do, and now we’ve got to learn from that, and respect it, and come back the next game with a way to slow them down a little bit.”

Continue reading ‘Greene, Smyth, Kopitar quotes’ »

Dustin Brown’s postgame thoughts…

(on whether this feels like a missed opportunity…)
BROWN: “Definitely. We had the game, and we made mistakes and they capitalized on them. We had a too many men on the ice, and a power-play goal. We had a bad change, and a goal. Then we got caught with three men below the hash marks on the winning goal. So that’s three goals right there that could have been prevented.”

Continue reading ‘Brown postgame quotes’ »

The Canucks scored four third-period goals, including Ryan Kesler’s empty-netter with 16.1 seconds remaining, to even the series 2-2. Click below to watch the coaches’ postgame media sessions live. More from the locker room ASAP…

Coaches’ press conferences