ANAHEIM, California — Joonas Korpisalo stopped 20 shots for his first shutout of the season and fourth of his career as the Los Angeles Kings beat the Vancouver Canucks 3-0 to stop a three-game losing streak.
“I felt pretty good, and the guys let me see the puck, and my job is to take care of the rest,” Korpisalo said.
Arthur Kaliyev, Vladislav Gavrikov and Drew Doughty scored for the Kings, who tied their record for home wins in a season by matching the 26 they had in 1990-91, 2005-06 and 2015-16.
“We were tight defensively,” said center Phillip Danault, who had an assist. “It´s the right time of the year, that´s for sure. We want to keep building, obviously.”
Collin Delia made 25 saves for the Canucks, who have lost five of seven.
“Just the goals didn´t come tonight,” Vancouver forward Sheldon Dries said. “Give their goalie credit, he played well. … There´s energy to go around. We just got to find a way to capitalize.”
Elsewhere, Nathan MacKinnon scored his second power-play goal of the game with 44.3 seconds left on the clock in overtime, and the Colorado Avalanche rallied for a 5-4 win over the Anaheim Ducks.
Mikko Rantanen had two goals and two assists, and J.T. Compher also scored to help Colorado move two points ahead of Dallas atop the Central Division.
The Stars hold the potential tiebreaker with more regulation wins, which made MacKinnon´s one-timer from the left circle in the extra period that much more important.
“Well, it´s a good spot to be in with three games left or whatever, but there´s still work to be done because we´ve seen the standings flip flop all year long,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said according to AP.
Pavel Francouz made 19 saves in his first start in nearly two months. He had not played since Feb. 7 because of a lower-body injury.
Frank Vatrano had two goals, Adam Henrique and Brett Leason also scored, and the Ducks picked up a second point in two nights to give up ground in the race for the NHL´s worst record and the best odds to win the draft lottery. Lukas Dostal allowed five goals on 46 shots.
“Our guys are full of fire,” Ducks coach Dallas Eakins said. “They´re working hard for each other, and they´re trying to support each other, and they´ve competitive people.”
Colorado squandered a two-goal lead in the second period before rallying back from a two-goal deficit in the third.
Rantanen reached 100 points on the season when he cut it to 4-3 on the power play midway through the period, and MacKinnon´s one-timer with the man advantage tied it up 4-4 with 4:32 remaining.
“If you´re drawing penalties, you have your top five guys on the ice at one time and they can start feeling it. Eventually, I think, skilled players and talented players are going to find a way to break through,” Bednar said.
Anaheim scored twice in a 2:07 span of the third, going in front 3-2 on Vatrano´s wrist shot through traffic at 5:18 and making it 4-2 when Leason scored off the rush.
Eakins was pleased with the spirit on display coming to the end of a disheartening season, and not just from the youngsters that the Ducks hope will be cornerstones for years to come.
“Our veteran players, a guy like Frankie has a career year in points,” Eakins said. “Cam Fowler, career year in points. (Henrique) comes back, he´s got 20 (goals) again. There´s a lot of good going on, quietly, that is really going to pay off for the future.”
That seemed like it might be enough to punish the Avalanche, but Colorado´s power play eventually was able to make up for a wasteful start.
They failed to cash in on two lengthy 5-on-3 looks and a double minor against Derek Grant for high sticking in the first period.
The Avalanche ended up 3 for 8 on the power play.
