Vancouver Canucks Vs. Los Angeles Kings, NHL Playoffs 2012: Complete Series Coverage

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↵Dirk Hoag from On The Forecheck broke down exactly how these two Stanley Cup favorites were able to stay alive in the postseason and push their respective quarterfinal matchups to Game 5.

The sweetest words uttered in British Columbia this spring might just be “Game 5 tickets are now on sale.”

Meanwhile, Darryl Sutter and the Kings must look at their special teams, where several issues were exposed.

That seemed to lead Brown’s nose getting bloodied, but the NHL distributed a note to media disavowing that, instead saying that Brown was hit by a puck.

One thing it didn’t lead to? A penalty for Sedin.

There is nothing funny about a woman looking very into a song or a cheer or whatever she is into, as the woman on the right in the above GIF is. But the woman owning up to her enthusiasm, even sheepishly, despite the complete lack of support from the woman on the left? That’s heartening.

And funny. I mean, c’mon.

So far, things have worked out pretty well for the Kings, as they have gone up three games to none in their best-of-seven series and are now on the brink of sweeping the Canucks right out of the playoffs in the very first round. What’s more, they’ll have the chance to do so on home ice Wednesday night, as they host the Canucks at the Staples Center once again. Should the Kings lose, the series will move back to Vancouver.

The puck will drop at 10:00 p.m. ET and the game will be televised nationally on NBC SportsNet (formerly Vs.). The film will also be broadcast on CBC. You can listen to the radio broadcast on 1150 AM in the Los Angeles area, or on 1040 in the Vancouver area.

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↵What got the teams in these precarious positions? And do they have what it takes to become just the fourth or fifth team in league history to come back from an 0-3 hole?

The biggest reason for the Canucks’ issues, however, may be standing 200 feet away with No. 32 on his jersey.

Fans in British Columbia are likely to call for changes in the offseason should the underdogs complete the first round sweep of the President’s Trophy winners, but the front office in Vancouver may simply need to point to the fact that they ran into a truly immovable object in this series -- particularly if the postseason should end with Quick’s name being engraved onto the Conn Smythe Trophy.

Luckily, there’s more than one period in a game, and the teams didn’t disappoint for much longer.

It was a scary hit given the result, and it may have been a smidge late, but in terms of the contact, it’s absolutely clean. Shoulder-to-shoulder, not targeting of the head, didn’t charge. A beauty of a hit, and you can certainly see Sedin admiring his pass a bit. Besides, the slow-mo might make it look later than it was:

Sedin not traveling with the team essentially rules him out for games three and four of the series. It is possible Sedin may have to watch his team get eliminated not even from the sidelines, but from home.

For all news and information regarding the series between the Kings and the Canucks, keep checking this StoryStream. For more on the Canucks, visit Nucks Misconduct. For updates on the Kings, check out Jewels From the Crown and SB Nation Los Angeles.

No. 8 Los Angeles Kings at No. 1 Vancouver Canucks

10 p.m. ET Friday -- Game 1, Western Conference Quarterfinals | Kings lead, 1-0

National TV: NBC Sports Network, CBC | Local TV: KCOP-13

The Canucks, who won the Presidents’ Cup by finishing with the NHL’s best regular-season record, will be looking to avoid that 2-0 hole, but they will also need to avoid being outplayed as they were in Game 1. Los Angeles had 39 shots to Vancouver’s 26 and the Canucks had 27 penalty minutes to the Kings’ 10. Cleaning up those errors would go a long way toward getting the Canucks a victory before they hit the road.

Stick with SBNation.com for full series coverage of Kings vs. Canucks.

The tweet garnered plenty of responses, many of which asserted that the tweet was somehow “classless,” which is the dumbest thing any sports fan can say, ever.

It’s one thing to be hilarious. It’s another completely awesome thing to be 100 percent right while being hilarious.

More: Full coverage of Game 1 between Vancouver and Los Angeles | NHL Playoff Predictions

Though L.A.‘s 5-on 3 power-play goal in the first period can be put at the feet of Higgins’ delay of game call, it was Kesler’s unsportsmanlike conduct that had the Canucks on the penalty kill in the first place.

Special teams play was big in this one. The Kings killed off five Vancouver power play attempts while scoring on two of their own eight attempts. The real winner in this one, however, is the Los Angeles Kings’ official Twitter account. And apparently the majority of Canada:

Stick with SBNation.com for full series coverage of Kings vs. Canucks. For more on the Kings, check out Los Angeles Kings blog Jewels From The Crown and SB Nation LA. For more on the Canucks, head over to Vancouver Canucks blog Nucks Misconduct. We’ll have coverage of every playoff series at SB Nation’s NHL Hub.

The Kings aren’t playing like a No. 8 seed in this one, but the No. 1-seeded Canucks might have all the jump after the late second-period tally.

Stick with SBNation.com for full series coverage of Kings vs. Canucks. For more on Sedin’s injury and the playoff run from the Vancouver perspective, check in with Nucks Misconduct.

Stick with SBNation.com for full series coverage of Kings vs. Canucks. For more on Sedin’s injury and the playoff run from the Vancouver perspective, check in with Nucks Misconduct.

The Kings had quite a bit of trouble scoring this season -- in fact, they finished second to only Minnesota in fewest goals scored per game -- but it’s something that improved toward the end of the season. None of that matters if Luongo is giving up gifts like that, however.

The Kings look dangerous on the power play, and that’s problematic for the Canucks, who have taken six minor penalties as of the midway point of the second period. That could come back to bite them.

“A lot of money is heaped on the UNDER 5 goals here,” said Jack Randall of OddsShark.com, the hockey odds provider to SBNation. “Vancouver was very good defensively and the Kings need to play tight because they can’t score.”

They split four games this year and none of the past eight meetings saw more than five goals scored - hence all the interest in betting UNDER in Game 1.

Vancouver won the West last season and got to Game 7 in the Stanley Cup Finals, where they played so poorly that a riot broke out. Still, a Presidents’ Trophy team coming off of a Game 7 loss in the finals should be a very, very heavy favorite to run riot through their conference. However, the Sedin twins, Ryan Kesler and Alex Burrows are producing at a lower offensive clip than last season. For some reason, this team doesn’t feel like they’re as good as last year’s.

The good news for them is that, for all their talent, the Kings have struggled to get their act together most of the season. They split their season series with the Canucks and did enough down the stretch to make the playoffs, but they don’t look like a spectacular team.

OFFENSE

The biggest question in this matchup is going to be, “Who gets healthy first?”

We asked Niesy of Kings blog Jewels From The Crown a few questions about the team as they head into the postseason.

1) What’s the biggest reason you have confidence in the Kings heading into the postseason?

For complete coverage of the Vancouver Canucks, stop by Nucks Misconduct. For complete coverage of the Los Angeles Kings, check in with SB Nation Los Angeles and Kings blog Jewels From The Crown.