Los Angeles: Sven Baertschi scored the tiebreaking goal on a power play early in the third period and the Vancouver Canucks wrapped up a four-game road trip by sending the Los Angeles Kings to their third consecutive loss, 3-2 on Tuesday night.
Henrik Sedin and Bo Horvat scored second-period goals for the Canucks, who had lost two straight and five of seven. Anders Nilsson overcame a rough start to make 30 saves in his first appearance since October 26 as Vancouver knocked off the Pacific Division leaders.
Tanner Pearson scored in the opening minute and Anze Kopitar extended his point streak to nine games with a power-play goal moments later for the Kings, who hadn’t lost three straight since February 16-19.
Jonathan Quick stopped 24 shots, but Los Angeles remained winless three games into a five-game homestand after blowing a two-goal lead against the inconsistent Canucks.
Vancouver were 2 for 21 on the power play over their past six games before improbably scoring twice against the Kings, who had the NHL’s best penalty-killing percentage entering the game. Horvat scored the tying goal on a power play late in the second period.
With Kings forward Andrew Crescenzi in the penalty box during his NHL debut, Baertschi took a cross-ice pass from Thomas Vanek and caught Quick leaning the wrong way for his sixth goal of the season.
Nilsson had sat out the previous seven games behind Jacob Markstrom, and he got off to a shaky start when Pearson slipped an innocent shot past his short side just 23 seconds in. Kopitar doubled the Kings’ lead 3:14 in with his ninth goal of a resurgent season.
Henrik Sedin got the Canucks on the board early in the second with a shot that banked in off the posterior of Kings forward Nick Shore. Horvat evened it with a rebound goal after Brock Boeser’s shot, and Sedin also got an assist for the 250th multipoint game of his career.
Quick stopped a penalty shot by Brandon Sutter later in the second.
