Vancouver Canucks avoid elimination with 3-1 win over Los Angeles Kings -NHL Playoffs Update
Vancouver, the top seed of the Western Conference going into the playoffs, was on the brink of elimination heading into game 4 of the 2012 National Hockey League (NHL) Stanley Cup Playoffs Quarterfinal series against Los Angeles.
Luckily, Canucks fought back and avoided being ousted as they won 3-1 against Kings, Wednesday night, April 18, 2012, at the sold-out STAPLES Center in Los Angeles, California.
Daniel Sedin, Vancouver’s top scorer during the regular season, was finally back in the line-up ever since he faced a concussion back in March by an elbow from Chicago Blackhawks’ Duncan Keith, but his presence was not confirmed till the final moment.
"We'll see," Daniel said before the matchup started. "Hopefully I can play on the power play and be a bit of a difference there and maybe chip in 5-on-5, too."
Anze Kopitar made it look like Los Angeles would be eliminating the Vancouver team and that too in the STAPLES Center as he kicked off the scoring for his first of the series at 13:00 into the opening 20 minutes.
Fortunately for Canucks, they rallied in game two to secure the matchup as Alexander Edler levelled it on a power play with Colin Fraser out for tripping Keith Ballard and Kevin Bieksa showing off some skills with the game-winner.
Henrik Sedin secured the matchup with his power play goal 5:45 into the final period of regulation and kept Vancouver alive.
Now that the series will be heading back to the Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, the Canucks know that it will not be an easy task taking it to a game-seven decider as elimination will be lurking in every single corner.
"We're faced with a very tough task," Vancouver head coach, Alain Vigneault, said. "I believe that we need to start this task by winning one period and if we win one period, we’ll focus on the next period. We really have to have a narrow, short, focused
mindset right now and we'll be talking about that for the next couple of days."
Game 5 of the series between Canucks and Kings is scheduled for Sunday night, April 22, 2012.
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