LOS ANGELES (AP) — Willie Desjardins was uncertain how much impact he really had on the Los Angeles Kings in his first game behind their bench. The interim coach didn’t alter the lineup from their last game under John Stevens Adidas Troy Brouwer Jersey , and he hasn’t yet implemented any major strategic changes.Whatever or whoever was behind it, the Kings showed more than enough spark to rout their closest rivals.Ilya Kovalchuk had a goal and two assists, and the Kings opened Desjardins’ tenure with a 4-1 win over the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday night.Jack Campbell made 30 saves and picked up his first career assist as the Kings comfortably won the first Freeway Faceoff of the season for these two struggling Southern California rivals.Dustin Brown and Kyle Clifford scored first-period goals for the Kings as they picked right back up from Saturday’s win over Columbus to earn their first back-to-back victories of the season.Desjardins has run just one practice since getting his new job Sunday after the Kings fired Stevens early in his second season in charge. Los Angeles had slumped to the bottom of the overall NHL standings, but the Kings welcomed the new boss with a big win.“It was good to get back,” Desjardins said. “I thought the guys played hard. I thought we didn’t maintain the game as well as we wanted, but the first period was a good start, and we’ll build on that.”The former Vancouver coach’s new players responded with plenty of the passion they often lacked under Stevens, who took the fall along with assistant coach Don Nachbaur for the Kings’ 4-8-1 start. Tyler Toffoli’s empty-net goal clinched LA’s third win in four games following a six-game skid.“It was a wakeup call for everybody,” said Kovalchuk, who has nine points in the last four games. “We’re taking responsibility for what happened, and we’re responding to it. We looked in the mirror, and we all know we can do a better job.”Ryan Kesler scored and John Gibson stopped 23 shots for the injury-wracked Ducks Adidas Michael Hutchinson Jersey , who have lost eight of nine and earned points in just three games during that span. While the Kings appear to be turning a corner, Anaheim is stuck.“They pushed us, and we had no response,” Kesler said. “Very disappointed in that. We got down 3-0, we had a pretty good second period, and in the third period, we really didn’t muster very much.”Brown got the Kings’ first goal of Desjardins’ tenure when he swatted Kovalchuk’s centering pass out of midair just 6½ minutes in. The goal was Brown’s third in four games since spending the first 10 games of the season sidelined by a broken finger.Clifford scored his second goal of the season later in the opening period, getting alone in front of Gibson for a backhand. Kovalchuk made it 3-0 early in the second, getting his fifth goal on a breakaway set up by a long pass from Campbell.Kesler got the Ducks going with a deflection of Marcus Pettersson’s shot later in the second, but Anaheim didn’t score again.“I didn’t think we had the intensity that was required early in the hockey game,” Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle said. “It took us kind of halfway through the game before we got ourselves awake. Even though we didn’t play to the level we’re capable of, I think it’s a good start for our group.”NOTES: Campbell was Desjardins’ goalie with the AHL’s Texas Stars from 2012-14. … The clubs met for the 138th time. The Kings improved to 61-51-26 in the Freeway Faceoff. … Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf returned to the lineup after missing one game with an upper-body injury Adidas Mike Hoffman Jersey , but Anaheim is still without forwards Corey Perry, Ondrej Kase and Nick Ritchie. … Ducks forward Brian Gibbons got hurt in a collision with teammate Andrew Cogliano at the moment Kesler’s goal entered LA’s net. Gibbons bled onto the ice from his face before heading to the dressing room. He returned for the third period.UP NEXTDucks: Host the Calgary Flames on Wednesday night.Kings: Host the Minnesota Wild on Thursday night. VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) Anders Nilsson finally had his hard work rewarded with a victory.Loui Eriksson scored his second goal of the night late in the third period and Nilsson stopped 44 shots to pick up his first win in 2 1/2 months as the Vancouver Canucks beat the Boston Bruins 6-1 Saturday night.Nilsson was 0-7-0 in his last 11 appearances, including nine starts, since beating Nashville on Nov. 30.Article continues below ...”I feel like I’m getting back to my game a little bit,” the 27-year-old Swede said. ”Even though the results haven’t been going my way, or the team’s way, I’m feeling like my game has slowly been getting back to the way it should be and the way when I play my best.”It feels great to be able to contribute to two points.”Nilsson started the season strong with four wins in his first five starts, including shutouts over Ottawa and Minnesota. Since December, however, he has struggled. His win against the Bruins improved his record to 7-10-1.Jacob Markstrom was scheduled to start against the Bruins after Nilsson played in a 4-1 loss to San Jose on Thursday night. Nilsson learned after the morning skate that Markstrom was sick and he’d be starting instead.”It was plenty of time to get prepared,” he said. ”I still had the whole day. I just prepared the way I normally do.”Daniel Sedin Adidas Jonny Brodzinski Jersey , Sven Baertschi, Nic Dowd and Bo Horvat also scored for Vancouver, which scored four goals in the first to take control. It gave the Canucks just their second win in eight games.Vancouver was outshot 45-23 but got some timely saves from Nilsson.Tim Schaller scored in the third period for the Bruins, who lost in regulation for just the third time in 27 games. Tuukka Rask started and gave up four goals on eight shots in the first period. Anton Khudobin came on to start the second and finished with 13 saves.”I look at the goals and they got there,” Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said. ”They wanted to get there, and we didn’t prevent them from getting there.”We got sloppy at times and we paid the price.”Nilsson made a couple of big saves early, including getting a pad on Danton Heinen’s shot off a rebound during a first-period Boston power play. In the third, he robbed Schaller and Sean Kuraly on back-to-back plays.Nilsson also got a little lucky as the Bruins hit three posts in the first 20 minutes.”We played a pretty good game, but we have to be honest, we got some bounces,” Nilsson said. ”It was nice to see us get an early lead and maybe control the game.The Canucks were outshot 18-9 in the first period but led 4-0.Eriksson opened the scoring two minutes into the game. Rask gave up a big rebound off Alex Edler’s shot, and Sedin took a swipe at the puck before it rolled to Eriksson Adidas Peter Budaj Jersey , who whacked it into the net.The Canucks went ahead 2-0 at 10:54 on a pretty play from Thomas Vanek. He skated down the middle the ice then feathered a pass through the legs of Bruins defenseman Brandon Carlo to Sedin, who was alone at the side of the net.Horvat made it 3-0 just 56 seconds later as he took a pass from Troy Stecher, skated around defenseman Charlie McAvoy, and put a shot over Rask’s glove. Nilsson earned an assist on the goal.The Canucks made it 4-0 on a strange play. Rask stopped a shot from Baertschi and Boston’s Noel Acciari tried to clear the rebound, but the puck hit Kuraly’s stick and went into the net.”We hung our goalies out to dry,” the Bruins’ David Backes said. ”Then you are climbing uphill the rest of the games.”Dowd scored the only goal of the second period to make it 5-0. Jake Virtanen cut across the front of the net and took a shot that Khudobin stopped but Dowd put in the rebound for his second at 2:44.NOTES: Canucks D Ben Hutton was a healthy scratch for the second consecutive game and the ninth time in the last 25. … Baertschi returned to the Canucks’ lineup after sitting out Vancouver’s 4-1 loss to San Jose on Thursday. … Louie DeBrusk, the father of Boston rookie forward Jake DeBrusk, worked between the benches as a color analyst for the first time in a game his son played.UP NEXTBruins: At Calgary on Tuesday night in the second of a five-game trip.Canucks: Host Colorado on Tuesday night.
