Canucks Seek to Find Killer Instinct Against Kings in Game 6

The Vancouver Canucks will continue their hunt for buried treasure in Game 6 of their opening-round playoff series.

So far, as they attempt to eliminate the Los Angeles Kings from the Stanley Cup chase tonight, the Canucks' searches near the beaches of Vancouver and L.A. have proved fruitful.

They have re-discovered a penalty-killing unit that can negate man-advantage situations after allowing six straight Kings' power-play goals, their goaltender's swagger (at least for the time being), Steve Bernier and Pavol Demitra's scoring touches, and the combination for unlocking Jonathan Quick's net.

Now, the Canucks, who lead the best-of-seven series 3-2, just have to find one key missing item at the Staples Centre -- a killer instinct.

"The last one's always the toughest one to win.... They're going to come out hard and they're going to want to win, especially in front of their crowd," said Luongo. "They're going to make sure they're ready to play."

The Canucks could not find a killer instinct last spring as they were leading their second-round series with the Chicago Blackhawks 2-1. After squandering a late lead in Game 4, they never won again as they went out in six games.

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But Friday night, it looked like they had at least obtained a Geiger-counter reading on the rare mettle as they pounded the Kings 7-2 in the most lopsided game of the series.

"I think we did everything that we were supposed to do to win the game," said Luongo. "We scored some goals, we played great defensively (and) we killed some big penalties."

If the Canucks can continue to kill a few more penalties and Mikael Samuelsson maintains his hot scoring hand, they can do what the Pittsburgh Penguins and San Jose Sharks did Saturday night -- close out their first-round series on the road.

The Penguins prevailed in overtime in Ottawa and the Sharks finally found some bite in a big post-season game as they ended the Colorado Avalanche's season with a one-sided win in Denver.

Canucks centre Henrik Sedin believes home-ice advantage is a key factor in the fifth, sixth and seventh games of a series.

The Kings will put his theory to the test as they attempt to overcome two straight losses and find their own killer instinct.

To do that, the Kings will have to play at an unusual time. The game is scheduled for 6 p.m. (Pacific Time) to accommodate Hockey Night in Canada. While such early start times are common for the Canucks, they are unusual in Tinseltown.

"I don't mind those six o'clock games," said Kings coach Terry Murray. "I like the two o'clock in the afternoon games, quite honestly. The league tells us whenever we're going to play, so it will not have an effect on us. The only thing it changes is our morning skate. We won't have one, but everything else stays the same.

"As far as the pre-game meals are concerned, they're going to eat at the same time. They come to the rink at pretty much the same time in L.A. and they have a little snack there, so their routine will not be thrown off."

But the Canucks hope they can shake their routine of failing to display a killer instinct in playoff games that really count.

NOTES: Canucks winger Daniel Sedin missed practice Saturday due to a sore ankle but is expected to play tonight ... Vancouver called up Lawrence Nycholat from their Manitoba farm team as insurance for their injury-damaged defence corps. But he is not expected to play. Depth defenceman Andrew Alberts, who heard fans chant his name Friday likely for the first time in his career, will stay in the lineup.