VANCOUVER — Loui Eriksson led Vancouver’s early offensive explosion with two goals and an assist before the game was six minutes old, Brock Boeser scored twice in the second period, and the Canucks cruised to a 6-2 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday.
Thomas Vanek, with a goal and two assists, and Sven Baertschi provided the rest of the offence for Vancouver (19-23-6), which got 30 saves from Jacob Markstrom. Bo Horvat and Alexander Edler each added two assists.
Anze Kopitar, with a goal and an assist, and Alex Iafallo replied for Los Angeles (25-18-5). Jonathon Quick allowed five goals on 19 shots, including four on 11 in the first 9:58 of the opening period.
Darcy Kuemper stopped 16 shots in relief after Quick was pulled with the score 5-1 early in the second.
Playing at Rogers Arena for the first time in three weeks, the Canucks opened the scoring 62 seconds into their five-game homestand when Eriksson’s initial redirection off Vanek’s shot squeezed between Quick’s arm and body and landed in the crease. The Kings goalie got a piece of the puck with his stick as he reached back in an attempt to clear the danger, but Eriksson was there to poke home his seventh.
The Swede was at it again a couple of minutes later, taking a slick feed from Horvat — who returned to the lineup Sunday after missing 18 games with an ankle injury — off the rush and firing his second of the night at 3:50.
Vanek continued the onslaught at 5:49 when he got behind the Los Angeles defence and blasted a slapshot from the top of the face-off circle past a surprised Quick for his 14th to make it 3-0.
The Kings got one back when Iafallo scored his fourth after getting left all alone in front following a Canucks’ miscue behind Markstrom’s net.
But Baertschi restored Vancouver’s three-goal lead with his 10th on a power play following a Los Angeles penalty for a faceoff violation at 9:58. His initial redirection off Vanek’s hard pass into the slot was blocked by Kings defenceman Drew Doughty, but the Swiss winger followed up to catch Quick going the wrong way.
Boeser, who came in with one goal and two assists in nine games after wracking up eight goals and five assists in his previous 10, made it 5-1 on a power play at 4:21. It was his rookie- and team-leading 23rd goal of the season and also ended Quick’s night.
Kopitar responded with his team-leading 19th on a Kings man advantage just 1:27 later, but Boeser added his second at 7:57 after drawing two penalties to set up a 5-on-3 power play.
The 20-year-old was cross checked into the boards from behind by Trevor Lewis for the second infraction, and got his revenge moments later by blasting his 24th past a screened Kuemper.
It looked like Los Angeles had cut Vancouver’s lead to 6-3 at 7:45 of the third when Tyler Toffoli buried a rebound with the teams playing 4 on 4, but the home side correctly challenged for goaltender interference after Adrian Kempe’s stick hit Markstrom in the mask right before the puck entered the net.
The Canucks, who host Buffalo on Thursday, played at Rogers Arena for the first time since suffering a 5-0 loss to Anaheim on Jan. 2.
Vancouver went 2-4-1 on a recent seven-game road trip that wrapped around the club’s league-mandated bye week, and were just 3-9-2 over its last 14 outings before Tuesday.
The Kings, who lost defenceman Derek Forbort to an undisclosed injury in the second period, visit Calgary on Wednesday in the second of a four-game road trip.
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Joshua Clipperton, The Canadian Press