Conor Garland scored his second goal of the game with 34 seconds left in overtime to lift the visiting Vancouver Canucks to a 3-2 win against the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday night.
Garland scored with a wrist shot from the left circle off the rush after the Canucks had killed a penalty and both teams were still skating four-on-four.
Nils Hoglander also scored, Filip Chytil had two assists and Kevin Lankinen made 24 saves for the Canucks, who moved back into the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference. Vancouver also got its first win on its five-game road trip, which started with consecutive losses.
Adrian Kempe and Warren Foegele scored in the third period and David Rittich made 14 saves for the Kings, who had won five of six. They are 19-3-3 on home ice this season.
Hoglander gave the Canucks a 1-0 lead at 9:56 of the first period when he hit the top-right corner with a wrist shot from the inside edge of the left circle.
After killing two penalties earlier in the second period, the Canucks capitalized on their first power play later in the period when Filip Chytil made a short centering pass to Garland for a one-timer from in close for a 2-0 lead at 13:07.
Kempe prevented Lankinen’s fifth shutout of the season when he scored at 9:16 of the third period to cut it to 2-1.
Kempe built up speed as he received a pass from Vladislav Gavrikov in the neutral zone and spliced through three defenders before scoring his team-leading 26th goal of the season. It came on a wrist shot from the inside edge of the left circle.
The Kings tied it 2-2 at 14:01 on Foegele’s deflection off a one-timer by Jordan Spence from the left point.
The Canucks challenged for goaltender interference on Foegele, but the goal was upheld upon review.
Vancouver leading point scorer Quinn Hughes returned after missing six games, as well as the Four Nations Face-Off, with an undisclosed injury. He had the primary assist on Garland’s overtime goal.
Kings defenseman Drew Doughty was a late scratch because of a lower-body injury. Doughty, who missed the first 47 games after breaking his ankle during the preseason, is day-to-day.
–Field Level Media
