Willie Mitchell scored on a deflected shot, a power play goal to give the No. 8 seed Los Angeles Kings a brief lead over the No. 1 seed Vancouver Canucks, but the two teams are tied at 2-2 after two periods Wednesday night in Game 1 of their first round NHL playoff series.
Alexander Elder scored with just eight seconds left in the period to tie the score for Vancouver.
Mitchell's goal came at 16:33 in the second period, the only goal of the period, on a deflection:
The Kings were on a power play after a game misconduct and five minutes for boarding on Byron Bitz for this vicious hit on Kyle Clifford:
After the Kings outshot the Canucks 13-6 in the first period, and continued the assault in the second period with a 16-8 advantage. Jonathan Quick has saved 12 of 14 shots for the Kings, whileRoberto Luongo has saved 27 of 29 shots for Vancouver.
The Kings went on the power play at 3:24 of the second period when Zack Kassian was called for charging. But just 24 seconds later the advantage was wasted when Jarret Stoll was called for holding, leading to a minute and a half of 4-on-4 hockey.
Through two periods, the Kings are 1-for-6 on the power play, and they have killed all three Canucks chances with the man advantage.
The Kings have not won a playoff series in 11 years.
Game 2 will be played Friday night at 7 p.m. PDT. For more news and notes on Kings hockey, be sure to read Jewels From The Crown.