Alex Turcotte had two goals and an assist while leading the visiting Los Angeles Kings to a 5-1 win against the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday night.
Adrian Kempe and Kevin Fiala each had a goal and an assist, Warren Foegele also scored and Darcy Kuemper made 20 saves for Los Angeles, which averted what would have been its first three-game losing streak since Oct. 12-16.
Quinn Hughes scored and Thatcher Demko made 16 saves for the Canucks, who have dropped six of their past seven (1-4-2) to fall out of a Western Conference wild-card spot.
Turcotte scored 51 seconds into the game to give the Kings a 1-0 lead.
Kempe poked the puck past Vancouver defenseman Filip Hronek just inside the Canucks’ blue line, setting up a two-on-one rush with Turcotte. Kempe waited until Turcotte neared the crease before centering a pass that was redirected into the net.
Turcotte scored again at 9:18 of the first period to make it 2-0.
Fiala took a shot from just inside the blue line that Demko saved with his left pad, but the rebound went directly to Turcotte cutting through the right circle. Turcotte lifted the puck into the net for his seventh goal of the season.
The Kings, who had a total of one goal in their previous two games, scored 24 seconds later to stretch the lead to 3-0.
Kings center Anze Kopitar made a one-hand centering pass from the right circle to Turcotte cutting to the net. Turcotte did not have an angle to shoot, so he made a backhand pass back toward the slot, and Kempe pulled the puck to his forehand before scoring from in close.
It was the second straight porous start for the Canucks, who gave up three goals in the first 13:37 of a 6-1 loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday.
Hughes scored with a wrist shot from the high slot during four-on-four play to cut the Canucks’ deficit to 3-1 at 14:52 of the second period.
The Kings re-established the three-goal lead when Fiala scored off a two-on-one rush on a power play at 15:58 of the second to make it 4-1.
Foegele pushed the puck across the goal line from the side of the net to stretch the lead to 5-1 at 11:36 of the third period.
