Canucks could clinch Presidents' Trophy against Kings

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1 Canucks could clinch Presidents' Trophy against Kings By Iain MacIntyre, Vancouver Sun Columnist VANCOUVER - Mike Gillis played on a Presidents Trophy-winning team in Boston that didn t make the Stanley Cup final and another good Bruins squad that was swept in the first round by Minnesota. And he said neither loss was due to pressure or expectations. We weren t prepared, the Vancouver Canucks general manager recalled Wednesday. I don t believe there is a Presidents Trophy jinx. But there will be plenty of talk about one between now and the start of the playoffs because the only thing the Canucks have left to achieve in their historic National Hockey League regular season is the Presidents Trophy, and they may be able to win that tonight. The Canucks play the Los Angeles Kings at Rogers Arena after the Philadelphia Flyers home game against the Atlanta Thrashers. Vancouver leads Philadelphia by nine points in the NHL standings, and a Canucks victory and Flyers loss would give Vancouver its first Presidents Trophy. With four more games after tonight, there s no way the Canucks will blow the overall title even if they lose to the Kings. Like it or not and how would they know since they ve never been in this position? the Canucks will go into the playoffs with the best record in the NHL and all the pressure that carries. I d rather be in that predicament than be at the other end of the spectrum, Gillis said from New York, where he has been supporting Canuck Manny Malhotra during treatment for the centre s career-threatening eye injury. I d rather go into the playoffs winning and have those expectations than go in losing and there are no expectations. Gillis refused again to discuss Malhotra, who had major surgery on Tuesday in an attempt to recover vision in his left eye. The Canucks GM, who is in his third season in charge, has seen his team obliterate a handful of the 40-year-old franchise s records, had plenty to say about the issue of a Presidents Trophy jinx. The 2008 Detroit Red Wings are the only team since 2002 to win the Stanley Cup from the pole position. The champion Chicago Blackhawks had the third-best record in the regular season last year, and three times in the last eight years a fourth-overall team has won the Cup.

2 When you go into the Stanley Cup playoffs, there are lots of things that can happen and a lot of reasons why you move on or don t, he said. Our first objective was to get into the playoffs, then win our division, then win our conference so we have home-ice advantage throughout. Then we wanted to be playing as well as we could going into the playoffs, and that s what we re doing. There is just a different feeling with this team than in the past two years. There s more resolve and higher energy and I think the players are really enjoying this being on this team and playing with these teammates. There has never been a regular season like this one [in Vancouver]. And once it s over, nobody can take this away from us. I m enjoying the winning. But I m also looking forward to our team showing their resilience in the playoffs and demonstrating their ability to play at the highest level. A first-place jinx doesn t exist. Parity does. In the 1970s, which started with only 12 teams in the NHL, the regular-season champion also won the Stanley Cup six times. In the 1980s, when the league had 21 teams after it absorbed the World Hockey Association, five teams completed the double. In the next decade, as the league further expanded, only the 1994 New York Rangers and 99 Dallas Stars did it. In the last 10 seasons, only three times has the Presidents Trophy winner gone on to the Stanley Cup. Competition, not voodoo, is responsible for this. Rarely are there titanic mismatches any more or free passes in the early rounds for strong teams. Consider that when the Canucks lost the 94 final to the Rangers and the NHL had 26 teams instead of 30 Vancouver finished 27 points behind New York in the regular season. Before the 1982 final, the Canucks finished 41 points behind the New York Islanders. Teams that far back don t make the playoffs now. When the NHL had 21 teams, only the worst five were excluded from the Stanley Cup tournament. Now the 30-team league drops the bottom 14 for the playoffs. If the same percentage of teams made the playoffs now as back then, 23 would play for the Cup this spring and as of Wednesday morning the Thrashers would be chasing the St. Louis Blues for the final playoff berth. The Toronto Maple Leafs would be in. There are always teams that choke. But the Washington Capitals faceplant against the Montreal Canadiens last spring had less to do with a Presidents Trophy jinx than Montreal goalie Jaroslav Halak and a naive Washington style ill-suited to the playoffs. One of the top teams always wins the Stanley Cup. Only once since 1995 has the Stanley Cup winner not been among the best five in the regular season, and the 2009 Pittsburgh Penguins had Sidney Crosby when they finished eighth.

3 All of our core players have learned from the last two years, Gillis said of Vancouver s second-round playoff exits against Chicago. This team has a sense of confidence that we didn t have then. Being better than everyone will do that for you. Carter's twin regrets Couldn't stay a Canuck, be part of Sedins' growth By Ed Willes, The Province March 31, 2011 Anson Carter's version of the story goes like this. When he signed with the Vancouver Canucks before the season, he was told he'd play with the Sedin twins and, if his season warranted it, he'd be offered a multi-year contract. Carter scored 33 goals playing with the Sedins that season but, when it came time to negotiate a new deal, he discovered his idea of his worth varied greatly from the Canucks'. He wanted $3 million a season for three years. The Canucks offered two years at $1.8 million per. Carter declined, ended up signing a one-year deal with Columbus for $2.5 million and was out of the NHL by the end of the year. "I was thinking I'd be in Vancouver for three or four years," Carter, now 36, says from his home in Atlanta, where he operates Big Up Entertainment. "I loved it there. It was a bitter pill to swallow." But whether you believe Carter was lowballed by the organization or he overplayed his hand, one thing is abundantly clear: The '05-'06 campaign represents the Sedins' coming-out party; their pronouncement to the hockey world that there was something special about their skills and their chemistry. That season, the first year after the NHL lockout, Henrik recorded a career-high 75 points -33 points up from a previous best of 42 -and Daniel had 71 points -17 higher than his previous best - while both helped Carter to his best-ever season. In the end, it was a one-year relationship and Carter now seems like the hockey equivalent of Pete Best, the Beatles' original drummer who left the band just before they made it big. But Carter also saw something that season and even if he couldn't project what the twins would become -largely because no one could -he still takes some pride in their development. "You can't beat the chemistry," he says. "Think about it. They've been playing together all their lives.

4 "You're lucky if you get a linemate you play with for a couple of years... two people who think like one. You can't teach that. "I told them, 'Don't worry about me. You guys play your game. It's up to me to figure out how I'll fit in.' The one thing I said was I'm not interested in spending the whole shift cycling. You get 10, 15 seconds, then you have to take it to the net." It sounds simple enough. It just took them a while to figure it out. Carter fell into the Canucks' lap just before that season at the bargain-basement price of $1 million for the year. A consistent 20-goal scorer throughout his 10 NHL seasons, he was coming off a sports hernia and shoulder surgery and had been traded twice the season before the lockout came down. The twins, for their part, had struggled with a variety of linemates, most notably Trent Klatt and Jason King, before they were put together with Carter in training camp. The Toronto native still remembers their first preseason game against Edmonton. He remembers so many other things about that season. "It was like we'd been playing together for 15 seasons," he says. "Vancouver wasn't really on my radar," he continues. "I knew a bit about their team. They had a great first line ('05-'06 would be the swan song of the West Coast Express). They had a good defence. The only thing I knew about the twins was they were mad cyclers." He'd come to know more about them. In Boston, then-bruins coach Pat Burns had played Carter with Joe Thornton in Jumbo's first years in the NHL. In Edmonton, he'd played with Mike Comrie, another highly touted young centre. "I had some experience in that area," he says. "I thought I could help them out." Who helped out who is the next question but Carter did spark something in the twins; something everyone can see now, but few saw at the time. "They found a player who thought the game at the same level they did," says former Canucks GM Dave Nonis. "Maybe they would have developed the same and maybe they wouldn't have," says Carter. "It's tough to say. But you were there and you wanted to be a part of it." And for more than one season. Virtual advertising a new reality for Canucks

5 More NHL teams follow lead set by Major League Baseball, which has been using green-screen technology since the 2001 World Series By Yvonne Zacharias, Vancouver Sun March 31, 2011 You may have noticed something new in advertising when watching Vancouver Canucks games on TV but the change is so subtle and seamless, you may not quite be able to put your finger on it. It's those ads that have appeared on the glass behind the nets. And if you are a fan who also attends some of the games at Rogers Arena, you also might have noticed that the ads do not appear there. That's because they are digital creations, generated only on television. This new wave might take some getting used to but remember, it wasn't that long ago that there were no ads along the boards in NHL games. They were pure white. Now we take them for granted. The phenomenon of virtual or green-screen advertising is nothing new. It has been around for about 10 years, says Tim Silk, assistant professor of marketing at the Sauder School of Business at UBC. But it is making waves now because it was adopted by several teams in the NHL only last year. And this year, the Canucks have bought into virtual advertising on a test basis. "We think the experiment has been good so far," said Victor de Bonis, the Canucks' chief operating officer. "The sponsors that are participating have been very excited about it in terms of the exposure they are getting." There has been some trial and error in getting the new technology up and running. In the first game the ads appeared, they dominated the screen because they were too big, de Bonis said. The Canucks moved quickly to make the appearance softer so it blended in better with ads on the rink boards. The key, de Bonis says, is to make sure the ads don't compromise the integrity of the game. The Canucks will continue to test the ads for the remainder of the season and then make a decision this summer on whether they want to continue next year.

6 In the sports world, virtual advertising has its roots in Major League Baseball, where they appear behind home plate. The league has used virtual signage on Fox and ESPN telecasts since the 2001 World Series. The green-screen technology definitely has some advantages over more traditional forms of advertising. Because they flash on the screen during the game, they can't be missed by viewers who might take a break from their screens during regular commercials. Although the Canucks would not reveal financial details, the SportsBusiness Journal reported in February that the Philadelphia Flyers, one of seven NHL teams using virtual ads, expected to generate a little more than $500,000 in their first year of using them. The Flyers pay $2,700 a game in production costs to Sportsvision, the tech firm that the NHL uses to operate the virtual sign system, the article said. Beside the Canucks and the Flyers, the other teams using the virtual ads are the New York Rangers, the Detroit Red Wings, the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Ottawa Senators and the Washington Capitals. It is unclear exactly how the ads are bundled but again, the SportsBusiness Journal stated that with the Flyers, each brand gets a few minutes of exposure during each period. Some deals are tied to 10-game packages; others, such as McDonald's and Toyota, run the entire season. So far, the Canucks have BCIT, the British Columbia Lottery Corporation, Meyers Norris Penny and Joey's Restaurants as advertisers using the green-screen technology. The other obvious advantage to the ads, said Silk, is you can easily change them merely by switching a lens whereas ads along the boards are more of a permanent fixture. A lot of advertising in stadiums and arenas is peripheral, meaning it is not directly within eyesight while watching the game. It's somewhere on the sidelines. Silk points out that this type of advertising is focal, meaning it is right in the line of sight. When he first saw the ads, Silk caught himself wondering whether the ads were virtual or whether they were on the glass. As such, he said they are probably getting more attention than what is on the boards but that will decrease over time. "If they continue to do it, it will be the norm and it won't probably stick out as much as we think it does now." Silk said he doesn't find the ads intrusive but if people are against them, they probably would not know where to direct their opposition. "Is it the sponsor or the Canucks or the television station? People tend not to be very accurate as to where they attribute these things. We would probably attribute it to whatever organization we feel less positive about."

7 Garnet Nelson, director, sponsorship, with the advertising agency Cossette Communication Inc., isn't surprised that the green-screen technology is getting a toehold in the NHL. "Brands are always looking for a way to be seen and heard in a sometimes cluttered and noisy marketplace," said Nelson. He pointed out that this type of advertising won't work for every brand simply because you can't say much. "In some cases, it may be better suited for a brand that is looking for general awareness as opposed to someone that is looking to communicate a more complicated or more intimate message." 'Chara-effect' introduced at Rogers Arena By Ian Walker, Vancouver Sun VANCOUVER - There was a new twist at Rogers Arena on Wednesday. Actually, it was more of a curve. Call it the Chara-effect. The edged Plexiglas at the end of both players benches was removed and replaced with a rounded piece, presumably to eliminate the turnbuckle factor they pose. With it, only one stanchion remained, that being between the two benches. It's the first time I've seen it I don't know if it's going to make a difference, but I like the look, said Los Angeles Kings head coach Terry Murray, whose team will face the Vancouver Canucks tonight. I think it will be something the league will take a long look at. Maybe this is the right thing, I don't know. They're trying and that's the most important thing. No one from the Canucks or Rogers Arena was available for comment on Wednesday, but it's believed the curved pieces are being used on a trial basis and only during practices. The edged glass is expected to be back in place for tonight's game. They probably have to get some kind of approval from the league, but it's a great concept, continued Murray. I noticed it as soon as I stepped out on the ice. I think it's something we as a staff had talked about after we saw the Zdeno Chara hit and were discussing what to do about it and this was one of the things one of the guys brought up. Chara made headlines for days after his hit on Max Pacioretty sent the Montreal Canadiens forward's head crashing into the stanchion between the benches at the Bell Centre on March 8.

8 Pacioretty had to be taken off the ice on a backboard after suffering a concussion and fractured vertebrae on the play. The curved glass not only looks safer, but would seem to offer a better view for fans sitting in seats near the ends of the players benches. And that's not all. It's coach friendly, too, added Murray. You do have a problem in some buildings where the padding is so much now that you're extending yourself over the boards to see what is going on in that corner. This way is more friendly for the bench. I love it. It softens the corner and that's what it is all about. Miracle save grabs attention Quick's mind-bending stop gets hockey some attention for all the right reasons By Ian Walker, Vancouver Sun March 31, 2011 ESPN. PTI. NBC. Like OMG. Normally, to get the kind of exposure the Los Angeles Kings received from the mainstream American media last week, someone on the team would had to have been caught drunk and snorting cocaine in the back of a cab with a halfnaked transgender hooker. Well, either that or carted off the ice strapped to a backboard after what surely would be portrayed as yet another victim of a malicious head shot. So you got to know it was a play bordering on the supernatural -if not one that defied the laws of physics -that had our neighbours to the south talking puck and not hoops or spring training this time of the year. It was last Monday night and Calgary Flames captain Jarome Iginla took a hard shot from the left side of the Los Angeles net. Somehow goalie Jonathan Quick managed to get a piece of the rubber disc, just not enough to stop it from trickling through his equipment and towards the goal. Nothing out of the ordinary here, until... just inches before the puck was about to cross the red line, it took a hard right and skirted out of harm's way. Cue the Twilight Zone theme. "It's no secret that I have mind control," deadpanned Quick, following practice on Wednesday, one day before the Kings were set to face the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena. "No, the ice at Staples is pretty soft and I've caught a few bounces the other way that have gone against me so it was about time. I got a piece of it with my blocker, put some backspin on it and it just hit the ice and took a bounce in the right direction for me. That's all it was. I remember after it hit my blocker I was sure it was going in the net and when I turned around and saw it going out the

9 other end I was super relieved. We ended up winning in a shootout so that would have made a big difference in the game." If not the standings. Los Angeles sits in fifthplace in the West heading into Wednesday's play, three points back of the San Jose Sharks, who lead the Pacific Division and hold down the conference's No. 3 seed. Only five points separate fourth through eighth place, with the Flames and Dallas Stars three points back of a playoff berth. The win was also the first of four straight and has allowed the Kings to head into tonight one of the league's hottest teams, going in their last 10 games. Quick is with a 1.95 goalsagainst average in his last seven starts while backup Jonathan Bernier is no slouch himself, going with a 1.60 GAA this month. Never has the old saying "You have to be good to be lucky and lucky to be good" been more apropos. "I was watching that game on TV and saw it on all the highlights and as amazing as it was that the puck didn't go in the net, I was just as impressed with how quick Jonathan got across on the one-timer," said Ontario Reign head coach Karl Taylor, who coached Quick with the Reading Royals in the ECHL. "That was an extremely hard shot and he was good to get a piece of it in the first place. Not a lot of goalies would have put themselves in a position to get some luck the way he did." Kings head coach Terry Murray called it as good a save as he had seen all season, adding it was nice to see the NHL portrayed in a more positive light, especially considering all the attention concussions have garnered as of late. "It was great to get the national TV exposure, it was talked about on ESPN, you had [Tony] Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon discussing it on Pardon The Interruption, plus it made all the sports highlight shows," said Murray. "Anytime you get the right kind of exposure for the game it's a good thing." It wasn't until Quick saw the replay the next day did the 25-year-old native of Milford, Conn., come to terms with the viral nature of the save. "I didn't even realize the bounce it took until seeing it on PTI," said Quick. "I had to shake my head. Still, I never would have guessed it would have got the play it did." There's been more than 1,417,000 views of "Supernatural Save By Quick" on You-Tube and it's already the most watched video in the history of the Kings' website.

10 This, after being up for just a little more than a week. "Either people have too much time on their hands or I don't know what to say about that," continued Quick. "But yeah, I'm glad for the exposure for the game and glad it was for that and not something else." Quick and his wife both. Are 2011 Canucks deeper than Hawks of last year? By Jason Botchford, The Province Reading through Tuesday's online chat at the White Towel blog, and someone posed what looked to be an absurd question: Are the Canucks this year deeper than the Hawks were last year? The poster was predictably shot down and summarily ridiculed. Of course not, was shot back, the Hawks had one of the best bottom-6 forward groups we've seen in a decade. On the blueline, Brent Sopel had a good playoff and he was their fifth, sometimes sixth, defenceman. Really, these type of comparisons are best served up after the playoffs, so I'll save you the pointby-point, player-by-player breakdown. If the Canucks sewer the first round, it will be as absurd a comparison as the responses suggested. But the Canucks have proven they are nothing if not resilient and deep. I mean impressively deep. Vancouver lost Alex Edler, their best defenceman, on Jan. 24 for the season. Their goals against average then went down way down. Since Edler has been out, the Canucks have given up an average of 2.00 goals a game for two months. Great goaltending to be sure, but losing Edler, then Dan Hamhuis, then Keith Ballard, then Andrew Alberts, then Kevin Bieksa and then Hamhuis again hasn't even been a blip on the blueline's radar. Hamhuis suffered a concussion this week. So, he's out. But Edler and Andrew Alberts are both almost back in, possibly to skate with the team Friday.

11 This is deep. Maybe it's not as obvious as what Pittsburgh has done. The Pens have had two games all year with their three star centres in the lineup. But it's impressive, still. You'd expect in the Canucks' greatest regular season everything would have had to go right. It hasn't. Yet, they lead the NHL in goals, goals against, power play, penalty killing, and faceoff percentage. They likely have the scoring champion, the MVP, the Selke winner, possibly a Vezina finalist and some will even suggest a strong candidate for coach of the year. They have won the Western Conference's No. 1 seed, and no other team has clinched a playoff spot. If they were an NFL team, they'd be They'd be leading the league in offence, defence, and special teams. They'd have the most sacks, picks, and points. People would be in awe. The NFL Network would be airing specials. Heading into the playoffs, they would be debating if they could be better than the '85 Bears. That's just how the NFL rolls. Everything is Big, important and historic. The NHL is more understated in its coverage. Lots of people are suggesting the Canucks are frauds, poised for early postseason disappointment. The numbers suggest anything can happen. Fair enough, especially without Manny Malhotra. Recent Cup winners have all had differencemaking third lines, with players like Dave Bolland, Jordan Staal, Kris Draper, Sami Pahlsson and Doug Weight. Can the Canucks win with Max Lapierre, or Alex Bolduc or even, dare we suggest again, Cody Hodgson on their third line? They are at least deep enough. But none of this will matter in three weeks. All the records, the 50-plus wins, the fantastic regular season will have almost no meaning at all. My advice: enjoy it while you can. CANUCKS AIM FOR FIFTH STRAIGHT WIN AGAINST KINGS THE SPORTS NETWORK (Sports Network) - The Vancouver Canucks wrapped up the Western Conference's top seed last time out. Their first ever Presidents' Trophy could be next tonight with a little bit of help.

12 The Canucks take aim at a fifth straight victory tonight at Rogers Arena against the Los Angeles Kings, who also go for a fifth win in a row after surviving a big test without their top two scorers last time out. Vancouver made sure the road to the Stanley Cup Finals in the Western Conference would go through British Columbia with Tuesday's 3-1 win over Nashville. That win has the Canucks nine points up on the Eastern Conference- leading Flyers with five games to play. Though Philadelphia does have a game in hand, Vancouver can clinch finishing with the NHL's best record with a victory and a Flyers loss versus the Atlanta Thrashers tonight. Alexandre Burrow scored twice and Roberto Luongo made 16 saves versus the Predators for his NHL-leading 36th win of the season for the Canucks, who wrapped a perfect four-game road trip to extend their road winning streak to a club-record nine straight games. Vancouver has also set franchise records in wins (51), road wins (26) and points (111) in a single season. "It's nice," Luongo said. "(Getting the top seed was) one of our goals that we set out to accomplish when we started the year, but we have more goals ahead of us." Aaron Rome scored from over 100 feet away into an empty net for his second career goal and first since April 3, 2008 for Vancouver, which has won 11 of its last 12 overall. Luongo figures to be in line for some more rest before the playoffs and is with a 2.33 GAA in his career against the Kings, while backup Cory Schneider has never faced them. Already without forward Justin Williams for at least the rest of the regular season due to a dislocated right shoulder, the Kings visited the Oilers on Tuesday and left town with a 2-0 victory despite not having Anze Kopitar in the lineup. The forward suffered a right ankle injury versus Colorado on Saturday and isn't expected to return until next season after undergoing surgery on Wednesday. Without those two snipers, backup goaltender Jonathan Bernier made 32 saves for his third shutout of the season and captain Dustin Brown scored twice to give the Kings an mark in their last 11 games. Los Angeles is fifth overall in the Western Conference with 94 points, one up on sixth-place Anaheim and one behind Phoenix with two fewer games played. The Kings still have a shot at the Pacific Division title as well. They are three points behind the Sharks with six games to play for both teams, including a scheduled meeting in San Jose on April 4. "At the end of the day hockey's a team game and we played a pretty good team game tonight at both ends of the ice," said Brown, who now leads Los Angeles with 27 goals. "We've got good

13 players in here and when we're at the best as a team it's because of structure not because of individual performances so that's a positive for us." A victory tonight will give the Kings their second-longest win streak of the season behind only a six-game run from Oct. 28-Nov. 13, and Jonathan Quick is slated to get the start. He has a solid 1.98 goals-against average in nine career starts against the Canucks, but is just The Kings picked up a pair of victories in October over the Canucks, who then snapped their three-game series losing streak with a 3-1 road win on March 5. It was also Vancouver's eighth victory in the past 12 meetings and it has captured four of the past five at home against Los Angeles. Best of the best sportsnet.ca The Vancouver Canucks may be able to earn their first Presidents' Trophy on Thursday night. The Los Angeles Kings have far more incentive as they go for a fifth straight win. The short-handed Kings can move a step closer to the playoffs if they can go on the road and end the Canucks' four-game win streak. Vancouver ( ) has clinched the top seed in the Western Conference after Tuesday's 3-1 victory at Nashville. The Canucks completed a perfect four-game road trip in which they outscored opponents "We talked about getting in, getting first in our division, and if the conference was there, go for it," coach Alain Vigneault said. "We did it and we clinched it. It is a good moment for our group." Vancouver could clinch the best record in the NHL on Thursday, depending partly on the result of a game between East-leading Philadelphia and Atlanta. The Canucks are nine points ahead of the Flyers, who have five games left after Thursday. Fantasy notes: Dustin Brown heads into tonight on the strength of three straight 2-pointers and has with 16 hits in 3 GP vs. VAN this season. Daniel Sedin needs only two points to reach the century mark for this campaign and he has in 3 GP vs. LOS so far in ' Follow Chris Nichols on Twitter Los Angeles ( ), meanwhile, is in fifth place in the West as it completes a two-game trip. The Kings will have to get into the postseason without top scorers Anze Kopitar and Justin Williams. Kopitar broke his right ankle in a 4-1 victory over Colorado on Saturday, and Williams recently dislocated his shoulder. Neither will play for the rest of the regular season.

14 "Everybody should have a bit more pressure on them," forward Dustin Penner said. "When you lose two guys like that, as a team you have to play better offensively. We are pretty sound." The Kings played without Kopitar for the first time in Tuesday's 2-0 victory at Edmonton. Jonathan Bernier made 32 saves for his third shutout of the season. "I think it was an important game for us with the fact that we have a couple of the key guys out of the lineup, that you come and play and check the right way," coach Terry Murray told the Kings' official website. "The system, the structure, you trust everyone out there." Dustin Brown has stepped up, totaling four goals and two assists in three games since Williams got hurt. He's helped the Kings win six straight road games, their longest such streak since a seven-game run last season. They are away from home since Jan. 21. Strong goaltending down the stretch is another key for Los Angeles. Bernier is with a 1.60 goals-against average in five starts this month while Jonathan Quick is with a 1.95 GAA in his last seven. Bernier's lone career start against the Canucks was an 8-3 victory April 1, Quick has started all three meetings this season, going with a 1.30 GAA. Roberto Luongo opposed Quick in all of those games and posted a 1.95 GAA. He's allowed one goal in three straight starts - all wins - but the Canucks could use backup Cory Schneider, who has a 1.65 GAA in winning his last six. The Kings have limited Henrik and Daniel Sedin to six points in the three meetings. The twins combined for 18 last year in the first round of the playoffs when the Canucks won in six games. The Sedins totaled four assists Tuesday as Alex Burrows scored twice. The Canucks have the best penalty kill in the league at 86.5 percent, limiting opponents to one goal in 17 chances on their road trip. The Kings have been even better lately, holding opponents to 1 for 41 on the power play this month. They haven't given up a power-play goal in 12 consecutive road games. Canucks come home to royalty One last tough game for Vancouver in the L.A. Kings By HOSEA CHEUNG, QMI Agency VANCOUVER - With the playoffs just around the corner, one final test remains for the Canucks, in the form of the L.A. Kings.

15 Granted, Vancouver has five games left in the regular season but the final four matchups consists of teams currently out of a postseason position. They face the league bottom-feeders Edmonton Oilers twice, the 11th-seeded Minnesota Wild once, and the Calgary Flames, who are on the outside of the playoffs looking in three Northwest Division teams who the Canucks have a combined record against this season. If Vancouver can clinch the President's Trophy in the next two games, there's a chance for them to rest several of their players prior to the playoffs. The Kings, meanwhile, are fifth in the West and are on a four-game win streak, despite losing their top two forwards in a six-day span. First, winger Justin Williams suffered a dislocated shoulder and is expected to be out three to four weeks. Then team-leading scorer Anze Kopitar tore ligaments in his ankle, requiring season-ending surgery. The roster losses, unfortunately, come at a time when L.A. is fighting to secure a playoff spot for the second straight season. But then again, injuries are part of the game. Just ask the Canucks, who had a well-deserved team day off Wednesday after sweeping their four-game road trip. On Thursday at Rogers Arena, they'll look to extend their franchise records in points and wins, and maybe get a final feel for a playoff-like game before the real thing. Kings: Vancouver still has reason to win By Dan Arritt Five storylines to track: 1. Reason to win Just because the Canucks have clinched the No. 1 playoff seeding in the Western Conference doesn t mean they don t have any extra motivation to beat the Kings. Vancouver still needs to clinch its first-ever President s Trophy, which is awarded to the team with the best overall record at the end of the regular season. The Canucks can clinch with a victory against the Kings and a loss Thursday by East leader Philadelphia against visiting Atlanta. 2. Brown steps up Nobody was closer to Anze Kopitar than Dustin Brown. They re the only players remaining from the team. They ve played on the same line for hundreds of shifts and their lockers sit side by side. So when Kopitar went down with a season-ending ankle injury Saturday against Colorado, it s no surprise that one of the first players to elevate his game in Kopitar s absence was Brown, who scored both goals in a 2-0 victory Tuesday in Edmonton. 3. Lewis to the rescue? Another player who has risen the level of his game almost from the minute Kopitar went down is center Trevor Lewis. The Kings have scored four goals in the four-plus periods since Kopitar was injured and Lewis was involved in every one. Lewis, the

16 17 th overall pick in 2006, had a goal and an assist in the third period of the 4-1 victory against the Avalanche, and assisted on both of Brown s goals against the Oilers. Remember, nobody knew who Tom Brady was until Drew Bledsoe got injured. 4. Coming home Kings defenseman Willie Mitchell grew up on Vancouver Island and was a big fan of the Canucks while growing up. He spent the previous four seasons with Vancouver, twice getting recognized as the team s top defender. He has been flashing some offense recently too, scoring in two of the last three games to establish a new career high with five goals this season. The Kings are 20 games over.500 with Mitchell in the lineup this season. 5. Vancouver injury news The Canucks have been hit hard by injuries this season but have held up nicely. The latest injury has been a tough pill to swallow, however. Manny Malhotra, a gritty two-way forward with exceptional face-off skills, was struck in the left eye with the puck March 16 against the Avalanche and underwent successful surgery Tuesday to save the eye. Malhotra, who is married to the sister of Phoenix Suns point guard Steve Nash, will not be back this season. Canucks gameday By With Jim Jamieson, The Province March 31, 2011 Kings ( ) at Canucks ( ) 7 P.M., Rogers Arena TV: SNET Pacific; Radio: TEAM 1040 THE SETUP the canucks: Vancouver has clinched first in the West, is close to wrapping up the President's Trophy for the best regular season record and is in its last 12. But they have to avoid complacency against a team that could be a first-round opponent. the kings: Los Angeles appeared to be home and cooled out with a playoff spot assured -until their best player, centre Anze Kopitar, tore up his ankle on Saturday against Colorado. They're coming off a 2-0 win in Edmonton on Tuesday -the first game without Kopitar -and are in their last 10 but the fifth-place Kings know their remaining six games are crucial. THREE THINGS TO WATCH

17 1 The Dustin Penner deal. The Kings acquired the huge power forward at the trade deadline, but many onlookers wondered why L.A. would add another slow forward to a group that's already too slow. Penner hasn't exactly set the world on fire since the deal. He has an underwhelming two goals and six points in 13 games. 2 The play of Kings' new second-line centre, Trevor Lewis. When Kopitar went down, it created a ripple effect, with Michal Handzus taking over between Oscar Moller and Penner. Lewis, who's been centring the fourth line most of the season got a promotion ot the top-six and has made it count. Lewis, now playing with Dustin Brown and Ryan Smyth, has a hand (1-3-4) in the Kings' last four goals since the Kopitar injury. 3 Daniel Sedin's run for the Art Ross Trophy. Daniel has 98 points and five games left. He has a seven-point lead on Tampa Bay's Marty St. Louis and brother Henrik. St. Louis has six games left. BY THE NUMBERS 6: goals L.A.'s Dustin Brown has in his last seven games, plus three assists. No Lack of talent Moose goalie named to AHL's rookie team By Tim Campbell, Winnipeg Free Press March 31, 2011 Manitoba Moose goalie Eddie Lack has been named to the American Hockey League's allrookie team for The 23-year-old Swede has already won 27 games and posted five shutouts as the Moose appear poised to claim a playoff spot in the league's tight North Division. "It's a big honour," Lack said. "I think I've been playing pretty good so far this year but I've got a lot of help from my teammates, my coaches and the trainers." Lack is in the top five in numerous overall goalie categories in the league with his 2.16 goals against average, his.926 save percentage and for his wins. He's second in the AHL in minutes played (2,945) and saves. "It's a lot of hockey and, hopefully, still a lot of hockey left, too," Lack said. "I don't feel fatigue or anything. My legs and brain feel good."

18 Lack entered this season as an unknown, signed by the Vancouver Canucks as a free agent after completing last season at Brynas in the Swedish Elite League. There, he was top pick Jacob Markstrom's backup. Lack said Wednesday that he had a little extra motivation before training camps even began. "I read the newspaper before I got here and you guys thought I was going to the east coast [ECHL]," he smiled. "I just wanted to show myself from the start here, just prove that I can play at this level... It was a little bit of inspiration for the summer. I know none of you had seen me play. I know [GM Craig Heisinger] hadn't seen me play. It was a fresh start for me and I just wanted to play good from the start." Kings are hot and bothered The hype over their injuries and perceived fate has L.A. players fired up By Jason Botchford, The Province March 31, 2011 Knee-jerk reactions are easy. Want one? The L.A. Kings are done. Head coach Terry Murray may not have heard it before, but his players have. They're without their top two scorers, Anze Kopitar and Justin Williams, and, to some, the crater-sized hole left behind means they're without hope. Say it to Murray and he'll call it "very ignorant." Say it to some of his players and they'll tell you they can't wait to prove you wrong. "A lot of the media is talking and saying we don't have a chance," Ryan Smyth said. "That's incentive for us in this locker-room. It's the motivation factor. You guys can talk out there all you want, but that's not going to impact the strength in this lockerroom or what we do on the ice." What they've been doing on the ice has been effective. Combining terrific goaltending with solid defence, the Kings are on a run. It began Jan. 20 and the 20th win was Tuesday, a shutout against Edmonton. It was the first game without both their gifted forwards, Williams and Kopitar. It was boring, but effective. Hard to say what it meant, given the Oilers are the worst team in the West. Tonight's game here against the Canucks promises to be a much better barometer. When news that Kopitar was done for the season slammed down on the franchise like an anvil, Murray addressed his players in a meeting. Goals were already an issue. The Kings were 21st in scoring. The potential was there for the players to have a negative emotional reaction to their plight.

19 "We just laid it out the way it was," Murray said of the meeting. "Injuries happen in the game. You will always see this in your career, where you're going to be put in tough situations when you lose top players. It's the opportunity for the old cliché, other guys have to step up. You have a foxhole mentality now. You play with system and you play with structure. You trust your teammates. You block a lot of shots. You do the extra. There was no reason to feel despondent." There are no quick fixes for the Kings after losing players like Williams and Kopitar. Oscar Moller, for example, was recalled to replace Williams. Just 22 years old, Moller has 12 goals in 81 NHL games. "I'm trying not to think about the pressure," Moller said. "I want to score. That's my game. To score goals and make plays is what I want to do. But it's tough. Especially at this level, and especially at this time of year. I have to make sure I stay strong on the puck and the chances are going to come." L.A. hopes so. The Kings, however, don't have to look far for inspiration. This year's Pittsburgh Penguins have been doing more with less all season. They have a chance at the Eastern Conference's No. 1 seed despite having played only two games with all three of their big centres, Sidney Crosby, Jordan Staal and Evgeni Malkin. "Crosby is a huge part of that team and they've had success without him, and that's what we're going to try and do," Drew Doughty said. "Kopitar is like Crosby to our team. Without him, we are going to have to step up and play our system, good defensive hockey, and the chances will come." Murray said: "[Marc-Andre] Fleury stepped up. He's probably Pittsburgh's MVP this year. Their blue-line has really taken on extra responsibility as far as playing the game the right way, checking and shutting teams down." Expect that to be the same way the Kings will approach it for the rest of the season and playoffs. Smyth knows something about long shots, having been a huge part of the Oilers. An eighth seed, they knocked off the Detroit Red Wings, San Jose Sharks and Anaheim Ducks before losing in the Stanley Cup Finals. During the run, the Oilers scored more than three goals in just seven of their 24 playoff games. "First, we had a hot goalie," Smyth said. "[Dwayne Roloson] played excellent. For sure, it's the most important thing. You need big saves. But you also need timely goals. We got some. "Michael Peca stepped up. Sergei Samsonov stepped up. Shawn Horcoff stepped up. We just had guys who chipped in sporadically. It was never all at once. It was spread out over the course of each series. "But it was Rollie who gave us the chance."

20 Could the Kings follow the blueprint? They have the goaltending. Jonathan Quick has had a breakout season, punctuated by a great March in which he's with a 1.96 GAA and a.930 save percentage. With goaltending like that, it's hard to say any team is done. "You're the first person to say it," Murray said. "I don't think that it would be the right thing to say. I think it would be very ignorant to talk about being 'done' when we have a good group of guys and a solid locker-room. "That's what we're going to rely on." Power-play personnel changes only minor Posted by Rich Hammond on 30 March 2011, 5:55 pm The Kings went 0-for-4 on the power play Tuesday against Edmonton, but they did generate nine shots on goal. It s a power-play unit that is now without Anze Kopitar and Justin Williams, but the Kings haven t made significant personnel changes. In the previous game, Oscar Moller stepped into Williams power-play role, and last night Ryan Smyth moved into that five-man group as well, joining Drew Doughty, Jack Johnson and Dustin Penner. The Kings other fiveman unit actually got the bulk of the time, with Jarret Stoll and Alec Martinez at the points and Michal Handzus, Dustin Brown and Alexei Ponikarovsky up front. Terry Murray said the absence of Kopitar and Williams didn t lead to much shifting, by design. MURRAY: We didn t change too much on it, quite honestly. The one group, with Handzus and with Martinez on the back end and Stoll on the back end, that s the same. That s a group that has been playing very well on the power play, and moving the puck extremely well. Martinez, to me, has got the shot mentality that you want from all of your defensemen. On the other group, you re just looking to give your players an opportunity. The guy that s getting the opportunity is Ryan Smyth, who has been on the power play pretty much his whole career. He s just going to get back in there on a regular basis and do the things he s been doing. You re just going through your structure, your system play, moving the puck, letting it do a lot of the work with a shot mentality. Kopitar surgery `successful Posted by Rich Hammond on 30 March 2011, 4:05 pm The Kings have said that Anze Kopitar had successful surgery today to repair torn ligaments in his right ankle. Kopitar is scheduled to start some form of rehab work as soon as possible, but he s not expected to be back on the ice until mid-summer at the earliest. Kings rely on foxhole mentality

21 Posted by Rich Hammond on 30 March 2011, 3:24 pm For the Kings, it s one game without Anze Kopitar and one win. Of course, that win came against Edmonton, which has been in last place in the Western Conference for most of the season. A tougher test will come tomorrow, against first-place Vancouver, but at least the Kings know that if they play with poise and structure, there can be life without Kopitar. The suggestion that things might be done for the Kings didn t sit well with Terry Murray today, when a Vancouver-based reporter simply asked Murray about outside perceptions that things might be grim for the Kings without Kopitar and Justin Williams MURRAY: I don t think that would be the right thing to say. I think it would be very ignorant to talk about being `done, when we ve got a very good group of guys in a solid locker room. That s what we re going to rely on. I think everybody came to the realization that you ve got to play hard with what you ve got. That s the bottom line. There s no call-ups, there s no trades, the deadline has gone by. This is the group that s in here, that needs to play the game the right way, and that s what we did (against Edmonton).