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Canucks down Kings, lock up Presidents' Trophy

Apr 1, 2011 - 6:29 AM Vancouver, BC (Sports Network) - Just two days after clinching the Western Conference's top seed, the Vancouver Canucks captured their first ever Presidents' Trophy with a 3-1 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday.

Daniel Sedin scored a goal and dished out an assist for the Canucks, who have set franchise records in wins (52), road wins (26) and points (113) in a single season.

Christian Ehrhoff and Ryan Kesler also lit the lamp for Vancouver, which claimed home-ice advantage through the Stanley Cup Finals due to its victory and Philadelphia's regulation loss to the Thrashers.

Roberto Luongo made 18 saves for the Canucks, who got the No. 1 seed in the West with Tuesday's 3-1 win over Nashville. Vancouver has won five in a row and 12 of 13 overall.

"We knew we had an opportunity to wrap up first place in our home building and in front of our home fans," Canucks head coach Alain Vigneault said. "We went out and played hard."

Kyle Clifford scored the lone goal for the Kings, who are tied with Nashville for the fifth spot in the West with 94 points.

Jonathan Quick made 32 saves for Los Angeles, which had a four-game winning streak snapped.

The Kings drew first blood at the 13:09 mark of the first period. Drew Doughty controlled the puck at the side of the net and slid a pass to the left circle. Clifford quickly fired a shot past Luongo.

But Vancouver took control in the middle stanza with a pair of goals. Sedin led a 2-on-1 rush down the left side of the ice, but instead of passing, he fired a wrister past Quick from the slot with 4:54 left.

Ehrhoff made it a 2-1 game with just 0.9 seconds left. Following a save from Luongo, Jannik Hansen led a 3-on-2 rush with time winding down. Hansen took the right side and passed to the center of the ice for Ehrhoff, whose shot beat Quick.

Back-to-back penalties late in the third gave the Canucks a two-man advantage. Clifford got a five-minute major and game misconduct at the 13:36 mark for checking Christopher Tanev from behind.

Matt Greene was sent to the box less than a minute later for cross checking to set up the 5-on-3 power play. Kesler took advantage by finding the back of the net at 15:34.

The Kings failed to register a shot in the third period.

"I thought we were too tentative all game," Kings forward Dustin Brown said.

Game Notes

The Canucks and Kings split four meetings this season...Vancouver was without defenseman Dan Hamhuis (concussion) and forwards Mikael Samuelsson (leg) and Tanner Glass (upper body)...Sedin now has 100 points this season.