Thursday, Apr. 5 10:00pm ET
Druken scores tying, winning goals
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BOX SCORE
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) – The Vancouver Canucks beat
the Los Angeles Kings 3-2 in overtime Thursday night, but both
teams left the rink smiling.
|  | | Vancouver's Denis Pederson greets former Canuck Felix Potvin with a friendly pat on the back. |
That was because both teams clinched a playoff spot when the San
Jose Sharks beat Phoenix 3-0 Thursday night, eliminating the
Coyotes from the playoff picture.
"I don't think we could have predicted having both teams clinch
here tonight," Vancouver goalie Bob Essensa said after stopping 19
shots for his first win in seven starts. "We're not too concerned
with what's going on in their locker room. The biggest thing is we
got things done here."
Vancouver's overtime win gave both the Canucks and Kings 90
points – two more than Phoenix, which has fewer victories than both
teams and just one game remaining.
The Canucks close out their regular season with a home game
against Edmonton on Saturday night. Los Angeles wraps up its
regular season in Calgary on Saturday night.
"It didn't matter. We looked at the score and saw San Jose was
winning," Kings forward Luc Robitaille said of the overtime loss.
"We've battled so much in the past month and a half that all that
mattered to us was getting in the playoffs."
Harold Druken scored twice, rallying the Canucks from a 2-1
third period deficit for their first win in eight games and first
playoff berth in five seasons.
"This was huge. We've been working so hard and the results just
haven't been there," said Druken, who ended a 14-game scoring
drought with the last two goals, including the game-winner with
1:41 left in overtime.
"That gets the monkey of my shoulder," Druken added. "I was
squeezing the stick the last couple of games, but I just kept
working hard and fortunately a couple went in."
Druken tied the game at 2-all 25 seconds into the third period
and clinched a playoff berth for the Canucks when he took a pass
from Todd Bertuzzi and scored over the shoulder of former Canuck
goalie Felix Potvin.
"I'm just happy that we made it," said Potvin, who stopped 27
shots and lost for the first time in five games. "This team just
battled non-stop and it's huge to finally have a chance to play in
the playoffs."
Potvin, who started the season in Vancouver and struggled to a
14-17-3-2 record before a Feb. 15 trade to the Kings, was booed
throughout the game by the sellout crowd of 18,422.
"I thought some of them were a little rough, which I didn't
think too highly of, but that's all right. That's part of the
game," said Potvin. "If you don't get a reaction, you're not
doing much."
Vancouver defenseman Brent Sopel scored 33 seconds in when he
took a pass from Bertuzzi and one-timed a slap shot that beat
Potvin to the far side.
Potvin foiled Trent Klatt on a partial breakaway 17 seconds
later when he stopped a wrist shot from close range.
Steve Kelly tied the game at 1 on the Kings' first shot of the
second period. His slap shot from the top of the right faceoff
circle beat Essensa 2:12 in.
Adam Deadmarsh made it 2-1 on a breakaway 13:33 into the second
period.
"We played hard tonight," said Kings coach Andy Murray. "This
was our third game in four nights and three different cities. They
were all battles and we were really pleased with the effort."
Game notes
Vancouver winger Daniel Sedin, second among NHL rookie with
20 goals, returned to the lineup after missing the last game and
three of the last four with a strained back. ... The start of the
game was delayed by 15 minutes after the Kings broke a pane of
glass behind the Los Angeles net during warm-ups. ... Los Angeles
center Bryan Smolinski, who had points in his last two games,
missed the game due to a sore back. The Kings were already without
center Ian Laperriere, who sustained a concussion in Phoenix on
Tuesday.
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NHL Scoreboard
Los Angeles Clubhouse
Vancouver Clubhouse
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Washington 3
Florida 0
Detroit 4
Atlanta 0
Montreal 3
Philadelphia 2
NY Rangers 4
Tampa Bay 3
Nashville 4
Calgary 0
St. Louis 4
Columbus 1
Vancouver 3
Los Angeles 2
San Jose 3
Phoenix 0
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