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Rank the Players: Kings Endure Penalty Trouble, Shootout for Second Win

For the second straight game, the Kings blew a late lead after the opponent pulled their goalie. For the second straight game, they got away with it. And today, Peter Budaj got a little bit of redemption as he handed the Canucks their first defeat of the season.

Rank the Players based on their performance in tonight’s game:

When it was 3-0 after a Dustin Brown shorthanded goal less than a minute into the second, there was always the chance that this game would result into LA hanging on for dear life as the clock wound down. The Kings were probably unfortunate to be in that situation, given that (hey, another bit of deja vu) a little confusion between Budaj and his defensemen resulted in the first goal, and the man advantage resulted in the second. But the Kings didn’t do enough to win it in regulation, at least in the final 39 minutes; Vancouver fell way behind on shot attempts but weren’t allowing too many high-danger chances. And when LA went to the box five times in a row, they made it easier for the Canucks to tie things up late.

We’ll do more of a blow-by-blow in the recap, but Brown stole the offensive headlines in regulation, assisting on goals by Brayden McNabb and Tanner Pearson prior to his own goal. It wasn’t enough to end things the traditional way, but Pearson (who now has four goals in three games) maintained his hot hand and scored the winner in the shootout, as Budaj stopped all three Vancouver attempts. At the very least, we know the Canucks are capable of losing, and though LA is still looking for their first regulation victory, they have reason for optimism.

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