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Frolov fuels Kings past Canucks

Jan 20, 2008 - 7:37 AM VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Ticker) -- Alexander Frolov had a goal and an assist to lead the Los Angeles Kings to a 4-3 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday at General Motors Place.

Rookie defenseman Jack Johnson, Scott Thornton and Dustin Brown also scored for the Kings, who have won all three meetings with the Canucks this season. Los Angeles earned 4-2 victories over Vancouver on both October 19 and December 10.

"We seem to score timely goals against them," said Kings goaltender Jason LaBarbera, who made 43 saves. "Maybe we match up well, I don't know. It seems like it's one of those things. It's funny how the league works where a certain team has a certain team's numbers."

"When you're playing against a good team, you have to capitalize on your chances, and we did that tonight," Brown said. "Every Grade-A chance we had, we scored on. It's a good night offensively."

Frolov's goal with 7:40 remaining in the third period served as the game-winner.

With Los Angeles clinging to a 3-2 lead, Frolov wristed the puck over All-Star goaltender Roberto Luongo's shoulder for his 10th tally of the season.

Mason Raymond halved the deficit 3 1/2 minutes later, taking advantage of a miscue by the Kings in their own zone. Raymond corralled a loose puck and wristed it between LaBarbera's pads for his fourth goal.

Brad Isbister and Trevor Linden scored 69 seconds apart in the second period for Vancouver, which has lost five of its last six games.

"We've lost five of six, so I don't think the confidence is so high right now," Luongo said. "But in situations like that, you've just got to work hard and make sure you get things right in practice, and it carries over into the game."

The Kings netted the game's first three tallies and looked to turn the contest into a rout.

Johnson scored his second career goal after accepting a feed from Frolov in the left faceoff circle and blasting the puck past Luongo just under nine minutes into the first period.

Thornton doubled the advantage just under two minutes into the middle session.

After the Canucks failed to clear the puck from their own zone, Derek Armstrong gained possession behind the net. Armstrong skated to the front and wristed a shot that Luongo denied, but Thornton corralled the rebound and deposited the puck into the net for his fourth goal of the season.

Brown gave Los Angeles a three-goal bulge 6 1/2 minutes into the second. Brown displayed excellent patience on the goal, confronting Luongo and waiting for the him to hit the ice before wristing his shot over the prone netminder for his team-leading 24th tally.

"We didn't have our best performance in Calgary (in a 6-1 loss on Friday). We really didn't come out and work hard," Brown said. "Tonight, we needed to come out and respond to that type of effort, and I think we did a pretty good job."

Vancouver coach Alain Vigneault liked his team's intensity but credited LaBarbera for his play.

"We had the start that we wanted as far as the process and we had the right players getting the scoring chances. Just couldn't get anything past their goaltender," Vigneault said. "They got the first goal and they took a 3-0 lead. I liked the fact that our guys buckled down and battled really hard, but the difference tonight was the goaltending."

Isbister and Linden got the Canucks back into the contest later in the period.

Isbister received a pass from Kris Beech and one-timed the puck past LaBarbera with 5:40 remaining. Linden halved the deficit just over a minute later, poking the puck past the goalie for his fourth tally of the campaign and first since December 18.

"We're not playing bad hockey," Vigneault said. "Our guys, as far as scoring chances for and against, we're there. Sometimes you get on these rolls where, offensively, it's a little bit more challenging and, defensively, sometimes the other teams are getting breaks. Right now, it seems to be that way."