Canucks at Kings
Coming off a rare victory in California, the Vancouver Canucks aim for another when they visit the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday. Vancouver went 1-6-1 on the road against the league's three Golden State-based teams last season but matched its win total in its first visit of the campaign to California, posting a 3-2 triumph at San Jose on Thursday. Nick Bonino snapped a tie with 2:40 remaining in the second period and Ryan Miller stopped all 14 shots he faced in the third as the Canucks improved to 2-0-0 on their four-game road trip.
The Kings' scoring woes continued Thursday as they returned home from a 1-3-1 trek to suffer a 2-1 shootout loss to the New York Islanders. Dwight King produced the lone goal for Los Angeles, which has netted fewer than three tallies in eight of its last 10 contests. The Kings won all three of their home meetings with Vancouver last season, outscoring the Canucks 9-2 in the process.
TV: 10 p.m. ET, CBC, TVA2 (Vancouver), FSN West (Los Angeles)
ABOUT THE CANUCKS (10-4-0): Miller has begun his tenure in Vancouver with a 10-1-0 record and is one victory away from tying Billy Smith (305) for 25th place on the all-time list. The former Vezina Trophy winner already has surpassed Mike Liut, Ron Hextall, Tomas Vokoun, Mike Richter, Turk Broda and Olaf Kolzig in career wins this season. Bonino has scored seven goals in 14 games since being acquired from Anaheim during the offseason for Ryan Kesler, who entered Friday with three tallies in 14 contests for the Ducks.
ABOUT THE KINGS (7-4-3): Justin Williams skated at practice Friday and could return to the lineup after missing one game with an eye injury. As one would expect with the club's overall scoring struggles, Los Angeles' "That '70s Line" has gone cold. Jeff Carter and Tanner Pearson look to end strings of six games without a point while Tyler Toffoli has recorded one goal in his last five contests.
OVERTIME
1. Vancouver recalled RW Nicklas Jensen from Utica of the American Hockey League on Friday.
2. The Canucks are one of four teams without an overtime or shootout loss this season. Minnesota, Boston and the Islanders are the others.
3. Los Angeles D Robyn Regehr suffered an undisclosed injury in practice Friday and is questionable to face Vancouver.