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Discuss: Kings beat Canucks in penalty-filled affair

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Eighth-seeded Los Angeles wrestled away home-ice advantage from the Presidents’ Trophy winners on Wednesday with a big 4-2 win in Vancouver. The oft-maligned Dustin Penner scored the winning tally with just over three minutes remaining in the contest, off a nice deflected kick pass from Jeff Carter.

Some discussion points:

-- Early on, Ryan Kesler made a concerted effort to get in Jonathan Quick’s kitchen. He jostled the Kings goalie on Alex Burrows’ opening tally and received an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for snow showering Quick after a save.

-- Later on, Kesler made a concerted effort to try and draw a penalty, which infuriated the Toronto Star’s Damien Cox (among others.)

-- The referees were active with their whistles. There were nine minor penalties called in the first 26 minutes (granted, two were for delay of game.) LA spent 16:03 of the first 40 minutes with the man advantage, and the game had 37 minutes of penalties all told.

-- Byron Bitz was tossed midway through the second period after this nasty hit on Kyle Clifford:

Bitz was given a five-minute boarding major and game misconduct while Clifford left the game (with what the club called an upper body injury) and did not return. Clifford looked woozy trying to skate off the ice.

-- The Dustin Brown-Anze Kopitar-Justin Williams line was dominant for the Kings, combining for 1G-2A-3PTS, 16 shots on goal, four hits and three blocked shots. Not to be outdone, the ex-Flyers duo of Mike Richards and Carter combined for a goal and four assists.

As mentioned earlier, huge win for the Kings as they look for the upset.

Let us know your thoughts on the game in the comments section.