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Henrik Sedin scores twice as Canucks trounce Kings

Mar 14, 2009 - 6:06 AM VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Ticker) -- Roberto Luongo has bailed out the Canucks many times in his two-plus seasons in Vancouver. Henrik Sedin returned the favor Friday night.

Sedin scored twice in a 30-second span midway through a wild third period, and the Canucks overcame an uncharacteristically soft goal by Luongo to beat Los Angeles, 4-2.

Sedin's outburst came less than a minute and a half after the Kings tied it on goals by Alexander Frolov and Anze Kopitar 26 seconds apart, the latter on a harmless wrist shot off the left boards during a 3-on-2 rush.

Somehow it went past Luongo on the short side, but Sedin made up for his goaltender's mistake a short while later, driving hard to the back door to convert a nice passing play from Pavol Demitra and Ryan Kesler off the rush.

"That stuff is going to happen, it's not a big deal for the guys in here," Sedin said. "We know how good (Luongo) is and he's going to battle back, so we knew if we got one more goal, we were going to win the game."

Just in case, Sedin added an insurance goal on his next shift, spinning into a pair of defenders in the high slot before getting away a quick shot that seemed to handcuff Kings goalie Jonathan Quick, slipping between his blocker and body.

"It's was nice for us to get a few right away," said Sedin, who snapped an eight-game goal drought with the 100th goal of his career.

"They put us in a position where we had to respond," Canucks coach Alain Vigneault said. "Those are things that are going to happen. As a team, you've got to show your own mental strength and your own character. That was a strong response by our team."

Alex Burrows and Mats Sundin scored in a first period dominated by Vancouver, and Luongo finished with 24 saves to avenge a 3-2 loss in Los Angeles on Monday night that also included a questionable goal. The All-Star goalie did not make any excuses for Kopitar's marker, saying he simply expected the forward to pass to one of two teammates driving hard to the net.

"And when he threw it on net, I kind of got stuck against my post and it went over my pad," Luongo said. "It was unfortunate, but we battled back and I was able shut the door after that."

The Canucks also lost in overtime in Anaheim on Wednesday night but have won eight straight at home, staying one point ahead of Columbus in fifth place in the tight Western Conference playoff race. Vancouver lost nine straight at home through the end of January but hasn't lost at GM Place since.

"We've got a lot of confidence here," said Sedin, who also had an assist.

Quick finished with 28 saves for the Kings, who hadn't played since their win over Vancouver on Monday. Quick only needed 20 saves to beat the Canucks that night but saw that many shots in the first period alone on Friday.

Despite outshooting Los Angeles, 20-3, in that opening period, Vancouver was fortunate to be up even 2-0. Quick made several great saves before getting caught behind his own goal on a dump-in that caromed off his stick and back in front, leaving Burrows with an empty net midway through the period.

"I was looking up the ice, trying to figure out what my options were, and the puck took a weird bounce off the boards and jumped in front," Quick said.

"They threw a lot of rubber there at the beginning, we took some penalties, and that cost us. That helped them get a lot of pucks to the net."

Sundin doubled the lead on a 5-on-3 power play after another tough break for Quick with two minutes left in the first. Quick got a shoulder on Kevin Bieksa's one-timer from the top of the faceoff circle, but the rebound bounced straight up and over his head, landing near the goal line for Sundin to tap in.

"They jumped on us and we didn't match their intensity," Kopitar said. "We weren't desperate enough, we didn't win any battles, and that's what resulted in all the penalties. We didn't move our feet, we were reaching in, we were taking holding, hooking and tripping penalties, and that was the result."

The Kings outshot Vancouver, 23-12, over the final two periods but still lost for the first time in four games. It was also their fifth straight loss on the road, where they are 13-16-1 this season. That's not a good sign for a team that remains five points out of the last playoff spot in the West and plays 11 of its final 15 games away from home, starting in San Jose on Saturday night.

After giving his team a talk after the first-period letdown in Vancouver, Los Angeles coach Terry Murray hopes there won't be a repeat against the Sharks.

"We addressed the intensity and the need to know that everything is on the line for us if we want to keep ourselves in the hunt," Murray said.