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VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Alex Turcotte scored twice and added an assist – all in the first 10 minutes – as the Kings thumped the struggling Vancouver Canucks, 5-1, on Thursday night.
Adrian Kempe and Kevin Fiala each had a goal and an assist, Warren Foegele also scored and Darcy Kuemper had 20 saves for the Kings (25-12-5), who avoided what would have been their first three-game losing streak since Oct. 12-16.
Turcotte’s first goal came 51 seconds into the game. And before the midpoint of the first period, the 23-year-old winger had helped stake his team to a 3-0 lead. The first multi-goal game of his career helped the Kings score five or more goals for the eighth time this season.
Turcotte’s first goal came when 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 for a 2-0 lead. Fiala took a shot from just inside the blue line that Canucks goaltender Thatcher 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 play started with Fiala walking around J.T. Miller to create room for himself.
“Miller came at me so after the move I made on Miller, I had a lot of time,” Fiala told NHL.com. “I was a little surprised but still I had a lane to shoot, so didn’t overthink it too much, and just shot it. … Sometimes you just have to simplify things and we did and [Turcotte] found the loose end there and it’s a nice goal.”
The Kings, who scored just three goals total in their previous three games, scored 24 seconds later to stretch the lead to 3-0.
“We talked about this morning we needed to get more goals on the board, and we did that tonight, and we still played great defense,” Turcotte told reporters.
Kings center Anze Kopitar made a one-hand centering pass from the right circle to Turcotte cutting to the net. Stationed below the goal line, Turcotte didn’t have an angle to shoot, so he made a beautiful behind-the-back pass back toward the slot, and Kempe pulled the puck across the crease and tucked it in past Demko’s outstretched skate.
“[Kopitar] made a great play just to get it to me, and I stick lifted the defenseman that was in my way, and I knew there was support behind me and it was great for him to be there for me and definitely it was a nice play,” Turcotte told reporters.
Kings coach Jim Hiller is pleased to see Turcotte producing after a variety of injuries limited him to just 103 games with the Kings and the AHL’s Ontario Reign over his first three pro seasons (55 combined last season). He’s played in 37 of the Kings’ 42 games so far this season.
“He’s been really good for us. I guess you’d call it a bit of a surprise, I think even for us,” Hiller told NHL.com. “We didn’t expect to see him playing as much as he is and playing as well as he is. The thing I like about him is he’s very responsible, plays both ways, good through the neutral zone, D-zone blocks shots, so it’s really a credit to him. He’s taken a little bit longer than some of his peers, but he’s got it going now.”
It was the second straight poor start for the Canucks (19-15-10), who gave up three goals in the first 13:37 of a 6-1 loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday.
Quinn Hughes scored with a wrist shot from the high slot during four-on-four play to cut Vancouver’s deficit to 3-1 at 14:52 of the second period.
The Kings re-established a three-goal lead when Fiala scored off of a two-on-one rush with Trevor Moore on a power play, keeping the puck and shooting past Demko’s glove from outside the top left hash mark at 15:58.
“They scored so they got a little momentum, the crowd went back at it so it was a good goal to shut them down,” Fiala told NHL.com.
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.
The Canucks have dropped six of their past seven games to fall out of a Western Conference wild-card spot, and the team’s once-potent power play has dried up. Vancouver was 0 for 5 with the man advantage and is 0 for 10 over its last four games.
Vancouver has allowed five or more goals in 12 of its 44 games this season.
UP NEXT
The Kings play at the Seattle Kraken on Saturday at 7 p.m.
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