Toronto, Canada – VANCOUVER (Reuters) - The Vancouver Canucks prevented the Los Angeles Kings from taking over the sole lead of the Western Conference with a 3-1 victory on Monday.
Roberto Luongo made 24 saves as the Canucks won their third straight game to keep the Kings (21-11-3) tied with San Jose atop the conference with 45 points.
"We made high-percentage plays," Vancouver coach Alain Vigneault told reporters. "We waited until they made a few mistakes that we could jump on and extend our lead."
Ryan Kesler opened the scoring for Vancouver with a wrister 1:04 into the game before Sami Salo and Mason Raymond added goals to help the Canucks extend their winning streak over Los Angeles to five games.
Daniel Sedin added an assist for the Canucks (19-14-0) to extend his point streak to seven games.
Alexander Frolov scored and in-form goaltender Jonathan Quick recorded 25 saves for the Kings, who began a four-game road trip with their first regulation loss in nine games.
Frolov's goal made it 2-1 after first period goals by the Kings' Kesler and Salo, and Raymond delivered the insurance goal at 14:48 in the third.
Los Angeles had its chances but failed to convert any of their five power play opportunities.
"They have a good defensive system and they hold you to not as many scoring chances as you would like," Quick said. "You have to take advantage of those opportunities when you can."
The Kings were looking for their first five-game winning streak since 2006 but retained a share of first place in the conference despite the loss.
With the victory, Vancouver moved into an eighth-place tie with the Dallas Stars in the West.
(Writing by Jahmal Corner in Los Angeles; Editing by Ian Ransom)
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.