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Los Angeles Kings keep slim playoff hopes alive with win vs. Vancouver Canucks

By Jim Morris, The Sports Xchange
Los Angeles Kings goalie Jonathan Quick makes a save on a shot. File photo by Mark Goldman/UPI
Los Angeles Kings goalie Jonathan Quick makes a save on a shot. File photo by Mark Goldman/UPI | License Photo

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Jarome Iginla scored his 625th career goal and goaltender Jonathan Quick stopped 35 shots for the shutout as the Los Angeles Kings kept their slim playoff hopes alive with a 2-0 win over the Vancouver Canucks on Friday night.

Tyler Toffoli also scored for the Kings (37-33-7) who trail Nashville by eight 10 points for the final wildcard playoff spot in the Western Conference. Each team has five games remaining.

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Iginla's goal tied him with Joe Sakic for 15th all time. It also was the 101st game-winning goal of his career.

Quick, who missed 59 games this season with a groin injury, recorded his second shutout of the season and 44th of his career.

Coupled with their 4-1 over Calgary Wednesday night, it was the first time the Kings won consecutive games in regulation time since Feb. 1.

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The Canucks (30-38-9) have just two wins in their last 12 games (2-8-2) and have been eliminated from the playoff race. It was the 10th game this season Vancouver was shutout.

Canucks goaltender Ryan Miller stopped 24 shots.

After a scoreless first period, the Kings scored goals 3:50 apart in the second.

Iginla scored on a power play at 12:48 after Canucks defenseman Alex Edler was sent off for putting his hand on the puck.

Alec Martinez took a shot from just above the faceoff circle. Iginla, battling defenseman Nikita Tryamkin in front of the net, managed to tip the shot behind Miller for his 14th goal of the season and third in as many games.

Toffoli increased the lead to 2-0 at 16:38, firing a shot over a sprawling Canucks defenseman that beat Miller high on the blocker side. That broke an eight-game scoring drought for Toffoli.

Coyotes rookie center Christian Dvorak scored a highlight-reel goal at 7:26 of the first period to give the Coyotes a 1-0 lead.

Dvorak appeared to lose the puck as he crossed the blue line on the right wing but gathered it at the top of the circle, deked around Capitals left winger Andre Burakovsky and cut toward the slot. Burakovsky tried to sweep the puck off Dvorak's stick again, but Dvorak eluded him a second time and lifted a wrist shot past Braden Holtby's glove hand for his 13th goal of the season.

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Josh Jooris widened the lead to 2-0 at 9:05 when he gathered the rebound of Alex Goligoski's shot from the point and slipped a rebound under Holtby's pads for his fourth goal of the season.

Arizona made it 3-0 when Lawson Crouse got in on the forecheck and poked a loose puck to Shane Doan circling the net. Doan found Alex Burmistrov in front for a tap-in and a 3-0 lead at 13:12.

Washington coach Barry Trotz pulled Holtby in favor of Philipp Grubauer but reinserted Holtby for the start of the second period.

Washington cut the lead to 3-1 on a second-period power play with Oliver Ekman-Larsson off for cross-checking. Nicklas Backstrom collected the rebound of T.J. Oshie's shot at the left post and snapped a shot past Louis Domingue's blocker for his 23rd goal of the season. Backstrom has 16 points in his last 10 games.

Daniel Winnik cut the lead to 3-2 at 11:04 when Tom Wilson's shot banked off the right post and into the slot where Winnik was waiting with an open net. It was Winnik's 12th goal of the season.

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Dvorak restored a two-goal lead when Washington's Jay Beagle sent an errant back pass into the neutral zone that Dvorak intercepted for a breakaway. Dvorak beat Holtby to the glove-hand side again for his 14th goal of the season and a 4-2 lead.

Burmistrov got behind the Washington defense on a power play at 17:52 and took a feed from Max Domi to make it 5-2.

NOTES: LW Griffen Molino, who the Canucks signed to a two-year deal Tuesday after attending Western Michigan, played his first game. ... RW Loui Eriksson missed his 12th game with a knee injury. ... D Troy Stecher, out one game with a shoulder injury, returned to the lineup. ... C Joseph Labate has been sent to Utica of the AHL. ... C Jayson Megna and D Philip Larsen were scratches. ... Vancouver hosts San Jose on Sunday. ... Brothers C Drew Shore of the Canucks and C Nick Shore of the Kings faced each other for the first time in a NHL game. ... RW Jarome Iginla played in his 1,549th game, leaving him 12th all-time. ... The game was 5:59 old before L.A. managed a shot on goal. ... C Nic Dowd, LW Andy Andreoff, C Jordan Nolan and D Kevin Gravel were scratches. ... The Kings open a four-game homestand Sunday against Arizona.

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