Game 77: Canucks 3, Kings 1

To peep out all the videos online about this game, check out today's Hockeywood Dailies.

The Kings skated into Rogers Arena, feeling really good about possibly taking the season series against the best team in the NHL. However, early season matchups hardly compare to games this late in the season.

After taking an early lead, thanks to Kyle Clifford's tally in the first period, the Kings were handed a decisive defeat at the hands of the offensive juggernaut of Stick In A Box.

After toying with the rest of the NHL, Vancouver briefly celebrated winning their first Presidents' Trophy in franchise history, becoming the 15th team ever to hold the oddly-shaped trophy for having the best regular season record.

But as I eluded to earlier, having success early doesn't always pan out in the long term. Only seven teams have gone on to hoist Lord Stanley's chalice. But the Canucks are making a serious bid to become No. 8.

This season's stats for the Canucks reads like my stats from my EA Sports NHL 06 game: first in the league in goals, goals allowed, power play and penalty kill. It's an embarrassment of riches for the Canucks, a team seemingly in their prime right now.

A team that the Kings split the season series with this season. A team that the Kings took to six games in last year's Stanley Cup playoffs.

The Kings let their emotions get the best of them, when back-to-back penalties scuttled plans to snatch a win in Vancouver for the second time this season. You give a team like the Canucks that much opportunity, they are going to make you pay. And Vancouver did, reeling off three unanswered goals, then holding the the Kings to zero shots in the third period.

Zero. Zip. Zilch. Ouch.

Talk about adding insult to injury (so to speak). With Anze Kopitar (ankle) and Justin Williams (shoulder) out, the Kings couldn't muster a single shot against Roberto Luongo in the last third of the game. The top shot man for L.A. was defenseman Alec Martinez with... sigh... three. According to The Hammer, it was the fifth time in franchise history the team didn't register a shot in a period.

So now, the team heads home to take on the Dallas Stars on Saturday for a little afternoon delight. Perhaps knocking the Stars out of the playoff race for good will make up for the bad taste left from Thursday's loss.

• AP: Canucks win Presidents’ Trophy

The Kings were playing their second game since losing top scorer Anze Kopitar to torn ankle ligaments, and fourth since No. 2 scorer Justin Williams went out with a dislocated shoulder. They outshot the Canucks 11-7 in the first period, but failed to record a single shot in the third.

• LA Times: Late penalties ruin Kings' chances in 3-1 loss to Vancouver

On the whole, they stood up well against the league-leading Vancouver Canucks — until the emotions of a hard-fought and tense game boiled over and led to two penalties that did the Kings in and led to the end of their four-game winning streak.

• LAKings.com: Kings lose to Canucks 3-1 

• NHL.com: Canucks beat Kings to clinch Presidents' Trophy

The Canucks, who entered the NHL in 1970, have 113 points with four games remaining. They will have the home-ice edge for as long as they're in the playoffs as they try for the first Stanley Cup in team history.

• TSN.ca: Inauguration Day as Canucks win first President's Trophy

There were no high-fives or back slapping. Instead of excited shouts there was a quiet determination about the job ahead after the Canucks defeated the Los Angeles Kings 3-1 to win the NHL Presidents' Trophy for the first time in the franchise's 40-year history.

From across the aisle, the Vancouver view

• Vancouver Sun: Canucks claim their first Presidents' Trophy

Los Angeles was on a 20-4-5 run and, missing its best two forwards due to injury, is desperate to protect its playoff position and prove it can win without Anze Kopitar and Justin Williams.  They were faster and stronger than the Canucks in the first period. Then Vancouver raised its level and matched the Kings' intensity, making it feel like a playoff game. In two weeks, it may be. 

• The Province: Postseason-style play, and officiating, highlight key win

Fears that the Los Angeles Kings would collapse into a defensive shell minus their top two scorers were unfounded, the Kings storming out of the chute Thursday night, the Canucks responding by holding the visitors off the shots column in the third period. 

• The Province: Presidents’ Trophy shows we have a great team, says Canucks captain 

A 3-1 win against a desperate L.A. Kings team officially got them their first Presidents’ Trophy, which is an odd, Starship Enterprise-looking award. It hardly looks like it has any meaning, and, if past winners are any indication, it doesn’t.

They said it

“I thought we were too tentative from the start. We had a one-goal lead, and we just didn’t go after it. We kind of sat back, and when you have a team like that [Vancouver], they’re going to shove it down your throat if you’re going to sit back and not attack. We didn’t get enough attacks from the start of the game, I thought, not just the third period.” – Dustin Brown, on not recording a shot on goal in the third period.

“Obviously the two teams, we have a pretty big rivalry from the beginning. We don’t get along too well on the ice, and they’re always hard-fought games. It seems like those scrums after the whistle and stuff happen every time, but that’s a part of hockey and the playoff atmosphere. Approaching playoffs, that’s just how all of our games, here on out, are going to be. It’s harder, but at the same time it’s a lot more fun.” – Drew Doughty, on the questionable hits in the game.

“Well, in the environment that we have today, it’s a play where you’ve got to let up. There’s no question the Vancouver defenseman saw him from the top of the hash mark in, above the dot in the circle. But you do have to let up. That’s just the way the environment is. There was an evasive move. It looked like he was going to try to go behind the net, then he cut in. He saw him, but at the same time you do have to be aware of it as the player that is coming in second. But on the other side of it, with Handzus, that is interference. The puck is in the corner. He is going to retrieve the puck. Tambellini cuts him underneath and Rome comes and blindsides him. That is interference.” – Terry Murray, on Kyle Clifford’s hit.