Fresh off a dramatic win in Calgary the night before, the Kings were iced by the Bo Horvat captain ceremony and were subsequently demolished by the Vancouver Canucks 8-2. This is certainly not part of Todd McLellan’s Plan.
Meanwhile the Canucks players filled their stat sheets at the expense of the Kings: J.T. Miller finished with a career-high four points (1G, 3A), while Brandon Sutter had two goals and an assist and Chris Tanev chipped in with a goal and an assist. Rookie defenseman Quinn Hughes scored his first NHL goal. Josh Leivo, Elias Pettersson, and Alex Edler added goals for Vancouver.
Jacob Markstrom stopped 37 Kings’ shots (.949 save pct.) while Jonathan Quick stopped 17 of 25 shots (.680 save pct).
The lone bright spots for the Kings were goals from Tyler Toffoli and Sean Walker. Walker was also the only King to finish with a plus (+2). All of the other Kings finished at even or a minus. Adrian Kempe was a minus four and six players finished at minus three (Tobias Björnfot, Jeff Carter, Drew Doughty, Ilya Kovalchuk, Alec Martinez, and Matt Roy).
Up Next: The Kings open their home schedule as they host the Nashville Predators on Saturday afternoon.
The Game 3 Highlights
(if you want Canucks stuff, go to their recap)
Word Around Town
The @Canucks matched a franchise record for goals in a home opener: 8⃣. They also did so on Oct. 11, 1978 and Oct. 8, 1987. #NHLStats pic.twitter.com/ADiFRZlGoj
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) October 10, 2019
Quick could very well deteriorate into goaltending oblivion this season. But in his first two games this season, he allowed one bad goal. Two deflected in off skates. Teams are going to score power play goals. But the rest? Just look at the defensive breakdowns.
— Frozen Royalty (@frozenroyalty) October 10, 2019
… So, it tells me that our group’s got a long, long way to go. Some of the players we’ve counted on or we need to count on have to play a lot better or they don’t belong in the league, and we’ll have to look at some individuals.” 2/2
— Jon Rosen (@lakingsinsider) October 10, 2019
Through two games, Jonathan Quick has stopped just 42 of 56 shots. The eight goals he allowed tonight were a career-most.
Todd McLellan didn’t put all the blame on Quick, but acknowledged: “He, as well as everybody else, has got to be better.”
— Jack Harris (@Jack_A_Harris) October 10, 2019
OK this is Patrick Roy’s last game in Montreal level concerning now…
— All The Kings Men (@KingsMenPodcast) October 10, 2019