Game 1 : LAK vs VAN – Meet Dan O’Rourke

The LA Kings would prevail in this one 4-2, but it wasn’t easy against an aggravating Vancouver Canucks team. The Canucks would take the early 1-0 lead in the first thanks to Alex Burrows. The goal would be a result of a missed goalie interference, with one of the refs being none other than Sens favourite Dan O’Rourke.  Ryan Kesler would get a penalty for snowing Quick late in the period, giving the Kings a 5 on 3 penalty resulting in a Mike Richards goal. Tied 1-1 after one. The game would be tied 2-2 after the second on goals by Willie Mitchell on the powerplay for the Kings followed by an Alexander Edler goal for the Canucks. Dustin Penner would be the hero late in the third as a Richard’s pass of of Jeff Carter’s skate would land on Penner’s stick and he would make no mistake wristing it past Luongo. Dustin Brown would get the empty net goal to put the game away. 4-2 Kings, they lead the series 1-0.

The Kings controlled this game outshooting the Canucks 38-26. It also featured a beautiful Kesler dive (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMqcMFu6bpg) as well as a dirty Byron Bitz hit (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6irIRUs1oEc) that resulted in a 2 game suspension. The biggest storyline in this game came after as the Kings twitter account tweeted “To everyone in Canada outside of BC, you’re welcome.” It has since been retweeted over 11,000 times and has taken social media by storm.