Their third-period woes simply relocated for the night, shifting to the last five minutes of the second period.
The Los Angeles Kings gave up two goals in that span and couldn’t get one past Canucks goalie Ryan Miller for the equalizer in the third period. Vancouver managed to protect its lead and beat the Kings, 3-2, on Monday at Rogers Arena, handing them their fifth straight loss on the road. The Canucks, long out of the playoffs, posted their third consecutive win
All this adds up to an increasing concern on two fronts for the Kings: hanging on to home ice in the first round of the playoffs and finding a higher level in time for the postseason. They’ve lost six of their last eight games.
They have three games remaining in the regular season to try to solve those issues. There’s also this: Steady defenseman Alec Martinez, who is on the trip, missed the game because of an unspecified injury and is considered day to day.
They’ve been playing leapfrog with the Anaheim Ducks for the last few days at the top of the Pacific Division. The Kings trail the first-place Ducks by a point and are trying to hold off the third-place San Jose Sharks, who are three points behind them and also have three games left. The Ducks have four left.
The Kings had built a 2-1 lead Monday on a first-period goal by Tyler Toffoli and a second-period effort by winger Kyle Clifford. Toffoli’s goal was his 30th goal of the season, making him the first Kings player to hit the 30-goal mark since Anze Kopitar had 34 in the 2009-10 season. This one turned late in the second period via a combination of ill-advised penalties and a costly giveaway by Kings captain Dustin Brown, leading to Jared McCann’s go-ahead goal, an unassisted breakaway with 33 seconds left in the period.
Earlier, the Canucks tied it, 2-2, with 4:38 left in the second, as Jannik Hansen scored on a two-man advantage.
Kings center Vinny Lecavalier had gone off for slashing Daniel Sedin and Kings defenseman Brayden McNabb followed him to the box after getting called for an illegal check to the head of Alexandre Burrows.
The Kings were opportunistic and pushed hard in the third period, outshooting the Canucks, 20-6. They had 42 shots on goal, in all. “We had enough opportunities,” Kopitar said. “We’ve just got to score. That’s just the bottom line. Tonight we had a good start. We get one and we’re doing just enough to let them hang around and they get a couple of opportunities and they score.
“The next thing you know we’re behind and we’re chasing the lead and we all know that’s not the way to go.”
Will and determination are not the issues, he said. “The effort is there,” Kopitar said. “It’s not like the guys are not trying hard. We’ve got to play smarter, a little bit tighter ... check better and not give them opportunities off our mistakes. “It’s more execution than anything else. It’s just too much sloppy play on our part. Just some penalties we just can’t take and put ourselves where we have to kill a minute and a half of five on three.”
Kings coach Darryl Sutter accepted some accountability over what has transpired the last couple of weeks.
“We’ve got to get the top guys firing for sure, that’s my job and their responsibility,” he said. “Our top guys are our captains and our best players and I think other than Jeff (Carter) and (Milan Lucic) and Tyler (Toffoli), they have played really well, but our other tops guys have not played very well since we (clinched) a playoff spot.”
Toffoli downplayed his personal accomplishment, saying: “It’s whatever. As a team we’re not playing the right way and we want to be winning right now.”