LOS ANGELES — A challenge for Kevin Lankinen getting back into the National Hockey League's goal zone and starting a game after four days without practice or games is certainly less than what the Vancouver Canucks faced at home this week.
On Saturday night, his desperate team faced the second half of back-to-back road games against the Los Angeles Kings. Lankinen was returning from personal leave for family reasons and stopped 21 of the first 22 shots he faced before an overtime fumble ended his chances against Adrian Kempe in the Canucks' 2-1 loss.
After just a morning of skating with a few teammates, Lankinen played after four days off, and after being called up to the minor leagues, Nikita Tolopilo was in goal for the first two games of a road trip in which the Canucks are 1-1-1 heading into Tuesday's final against the dominant Colorado Avalanche.
Coach Adam Foote announced Lankinen's return earlier Saturday, and general manager Patrick Allwine said he believes the goaltender will complete the journey with his teammates.
“All I want to say is that I am very grateful to Adam and Patrick for offering me some time to be with my family when they needed me the most,” Lankinen said. “So I'm very grateful for that.
“I felt good there. And that's what hockey is all about – you have to be able to perform. And I was glad to help the team. It's a shame that we couldn't win.”
After playing a low-event road game and presenting the Kings with clear-cut scoring chances, the Canucks lost a pair of two-on-ones in overtime. After the second rush, Quinton Byfield deflected a shot from the slot, but the puck went straight to Kempe, who was able to adjust it and send it into the half-open net as Lankinen and his teammates Elias Pettersson and Kiefer Sherwood desperately tried to get in front of the blow.
The game, which began with three official reviews in the first five minutes, also ended with one as the NHL situation room in Toronto reviewed the winning goal before ruling that Byfield, who walked to the edge of the box after his miss, had not unfairly impeded Lankinen.
“I tried to do my best,” the goalkeeper said. “I really don't know… I'm not sure what happened there. I was just trying to throw something at (the hit). But I'm confident the league did its homework (on the review) and I trust their judgment.”
Asked if he had a hard time focusing on hockey after taking time off, Lankinen said, “I trust my preparation. I trust the work I put in. I feel like I can perform, so I was just happy to help the team. It’s a shame we couldn’t get the win.”
“Kevin was great,” Canucks defenseman Tyler Myers said. “It was nice to give him a little extra time at home and, you know, to have him come in and step in like he did tonight…he's been doing that for us since he came to Vancouver. We always have a ton of confidence in him.”
“Obviously you have to play hard for him, any time somebody's going through something. And you know, he was great tonight. I thought the boys fought really hard. We didn't get that second point, but there's something to look at in terms of what we want to bring to the next games.”
Shots in regulation for the Kings were just 22-19, and Natural Stat Trick posted dangerous scoring odds of just 8-6 for Los Angeles in all situations.
“I thought we did a lot of good things today, especially in the second and third periods,” Myers said. “It felt like one of our best games of the year in the neutral zone, which I think allowed us to not have to spend as much time on our side. That's the way we need to play. It's going to give us a better chance to win every night.”
“You know, when we want to cheat or sneak and hope that the offense will come to us, that's usually when we have problems on defense. So I thought our second and third games today were really good. We have something to build on.”
Twenty-seven hours after losing 3-2 to the San Jose Sharks in one of the worst officiated games of the season, the last thing the Canucks need — or at least their fans need — is more controversy.
Naturally, in the first five minutes there were three reviews, which removed a goal from each team from the field due to successful calls by the coaches for offside. The league-initiated review also confirmed that Pettersson's daring charge toward the Kings' goal did not end in a goal 36 seconds in, as fuzzy video from an overhead camera showed a piece of the puck still blocking the back edge of the goal line as Kings goaltender Anton Forsberg held his pad behind it.
At 17:19 of the first period, Los Angeles scored the first goal, which came when all five Canuck skaters surrounded Anze Kopitar in a hurry, but still allowed the outgoing star to hit a quick shot from mid-ice that beat Lankinen to the glove side.
Evander Kane took a “good” penalty 43 seconds into the period, not because his hook killed a scoring chance or set a physical tone, but because it allowed the most-penalized Canuck to jump out of the box behind the Kings and pick up Drew O'Connor's pass.
Kane approached Forsberg at high speed and fired a forehand shot past the retreating goalie to tie the game 1-1 at 2:52.
After scoring just three goals in his first 23 games as a Canuck, Kane has two goals and an assist in his last three appearances.
Lankinen later stopped a partial breakaway between Trevor Moore and Canuck. Brock Boser saved a penalty kick in the third period when he picked up Kevin Fiala's stick as it bounced off the post aimed straight at the King.
Vancouver stopped all four power plays in Los Angeles, but the Canuck power play followed an 0-for-8 performance in San Jose and finished 0-for-3 against the Kings. Pettersson, who battled the Kings physically all game, missed a couple of great chances.
ICE CHIPS — For the third time this season, top line forward Conor Garland has been out of the Canucks lineup due to injury. The dynamo missed three games in early November with a bad head hit and then missed the Florida game on Nov. 17, which coach Adam Foote said was not concussion-related. Garland remains on the road, but it is questionable whether he will play Tuesday in Denver. . . Aatu Rathi returned to Vancouver's lineup after a one-game reset to slot into the third spot between relegated Jonathan Lekkerimaki and Drew O'Connor. Max Sasson dropped to fourth line, reuniting with Linus Karlsson and Arshdeep Baines, while Lukas Reichel returned to the press box after a one-game postponement. Defenseman Elias Pettersson Jr. was scratched for the second time this season, allowing Pierre-Olivier Joseph to start for the first time since November 14. . In Garland's absence, Jake DeBrusk started the game on the first line. Sherwood took Garland's place on the power play. . . The Canucks have a day off in Los Angeles on Sunday, then practice here on Monday before flying to Colorado.
