LOS ANGELES_The Los Angeles Kings sure know how to ruin a good Luff story.
It's shaped up to be a good one so far. Probably few people would have guessed that Matt Luff would play an integral role for the Kings in November. The 21-year-old wasn't high on their depth chart of forwards. But of course this season has taken ugly turns, some of which have been negated by Luff's joyous goal celebrations.
For the third straight game Saturday, Luff let loose, this time with a big fist pump to shake up Staples Center. But it went down in another loss, 4-2, to the Vancouver Canucks.
It was another impressive rookie, Elias Pettersson, who grabbed a Dion Phaneuf outlet pass and beat goalie Cal Petersen for the game-winning goal as Vancouver ended an eight-game losing streak to send the Kings further hurtling down their spiral.
In a game between two lackluster foes, Luff brought the building back to life with a highlight breakaway goal to tie it 2-2. Carl Hagelin spotted Luff streaking down the right side, and Luff got goalie Jacob Markstrom to bite on a deke before he slipped the puck past him on his forehand.
The stadium entertainment crew then blasted "What Is Love" over the speakers, but the fun didn't linger much longer. Jake Muzzin took a delay of game penalty early in the third period, and Pettersson struck not long after that. The Kings could not convert a late power play, and Tyler Motte scored a shorthanded empty-net goal to seal it.
It speaks to the Kings that they've lost two of three during Luff's scoring streak, and it said much about the Kings that they earlier snapped their 0-for-16 power-play spell with Ilya Kovalchuk on the bench as he's been reduced to a second-unit role and the third line. The Kings instead put Anze Kopitar in Kovalchuk's former left-point spot, and the unit scored on Drew Doughty's shot that found its way to the net with Dustin Brown blocking Markstrom at 7:23 of the second period.
The 0-for-16 slump spanned the previous nine games, a reflection of a dearth of man-advantage opportunities, on top of a lack of punch.
Vancouver struck twice in the second period with goals by Sam Gagner and Adam Gaudette, the first of his career. Gagner, whose tripping penalty resulted in Doughty's goal, redeemed himself by converting a tic-tac-toe passing play in the slot on the power play.
Gaudette drove down untouched to slam in Jake Virtanen's cross-ice pass. Virtanen rode Oscar Fantenberg off the puck behind the net as the Kings succumbed to Vancouver's forecheck.
The Kings went with the same lineup as the previous game, which meant that Paul LaDue was a healthy scratch for the 12th straight game. Coach Willie Desjardins said it's not punitive and that LaDue has done all the right things, but he hasn't been able to get him in. LaDue last played on Oct. 25.
"It is a tough situation for him because you get tired of practicing and you want to play," Desjardins said. "I totally understand that. You want to get him as close as you can. We'd like to get him in a game here pretty quick, so I think that's something we're looking at."
