Canucks 6, Kings 4
Kings winger Alexander Frolov was skating in on a breakaway pass from Dustin Brown. In net was the Canucks' beleaguered captain, Roberto Luongo.
Already touched for two power-play goals, the result of this breakaway could very easily determine the outcome of, not only Game 4, by the series.
In short, Luongo needed to come up big.
Luongo stopped Frolov's shot, and by doing so, helped spark the Canucks in the third period.
In the last frame of a humdinger of a hockey game, the Vancouver Canucks stole Game 4 and the home ice advantage that was attached to it, beating a gassed Kings squad that perhaps peaked too early in the contest.
In Games 2 and 3, the Kings were dictating the play, doing all the things that make them a gritty team, grinding and cycling. On Wednesday, they tried to run with the Canucks, and they were outmatched.
The Kings picked up where they left off last game, proving they are hard to beat when they hold onto the puck, grind it out, and cycle, cycle, cycle.
Their patience paid off when Vancouver was whistled for too many men on the ice. TSN's Darren Dreger tweeted: "Too Many Men is an epidemic in round one..." (He just happened to elaborate further in his column over on the TSN website .)
Playing with the man-advantage is a situation the Kings have loved to have the last two games. Coming into the game, Los Angeles enjoys having the top-ranked power play unit in the playoffs. On the other side, the Canucks sunk to the bottom in penalty kill.
Brown skates and attempts to slide it past Luongo, who makes the save. But he can't control the puck, and the result is a scrum at the front of the net.
Drew Doughty comes all the way in from the blue line, finds the loose puck, and is able to put it and Ryan Kesler in the back of the net for the first score of the game. The Kings score their fourth succ...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Los Angeles Kings
