On the final stop of their three-game road trip to California, the Vancouver Canucks took on the Los Angeles Kings. Led again by another multi-point game from their captain Quinn Hugheswho scored a goal and an assist, they earned their sixth straight road win by a score of 4-2.

Game Summary

The action started quickly for the Kings as Quinton Byfield opened the scoring 1:43 into the game. Quickly breaking down the left wing after a turnover by Canucks defenseman Vincent Desharnais, he cut in front of Kevin Lankinen and backhanded his second of the season. Everything was going well for the home team until Tanner Jeannot receives a penalty after a blow to the head from Brock Boeser. Boeser was visibly shaken by the play, went to the locker room and did not return to the game. The Canucks almost played the entire five-minute power play without testing Darcy Kuemper, but after a backdoor pass was missed by Conor Garland, the Kings goaltender swept it into his own net to give Garland his fourth. The first period ended with the score tied at one.

It was the Canucks’ turn to score early as they took a 2-1 lead at 5:51 of the second period thanks to a nice connection between Quinn Hughes and Jake DeBrusk. Hughes started the game at the blue line with his elite edge work, confusing the Kings’ Akil Thomas and feeding DeBrusk wide open on the right side of the net. He then attacked Kuemper in tight and scored his third in three games. He is now on a three-game goal streak after starting the season without a goal in his first nine games. There were no more goals in the period, but the Kings lost Mikey Anderson to injury after he was hit high by a Filip Hronek shot. He did not return for the third, and now both teams are hoping for good news in the coming days.

Similar to the second period, the Canucks scored early in the third to increase their lead to 3-1. Hughes did it again with his point work and puck handling as he gave himself room at the point and slotted it through a JT Miller screen for his third of the season just 2:44 into the final period . The Kings cut the lead to 3-2 later in the period on a Vladislav Gavrikov on-sight shot, but that was as close as they could get as the Canucks added an empty-netter from Miller in the last minutes.

With the win, Lankinen improved his record to 7-0-2 to start the season and finished with 25 saves. On the other side, Kuemper stopped 19 points in a losing cause.

The Canucks will now return home to Vancouver to begin a six-game homestand starting against the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday. The Kings are also in action as they will face the Columbus Blue Jackets in the final test of their brief two-game stay at Crypto.com Arena.