INGLEWOOD, Calif. -- Ed Olczyk recorded his fifth career hat trick and Vladmir Tsyplakov added a pair of goals as the Los Angeles Kings snapped a four-game losing streak Tuesday night and defeated the Vancouver Canucks for the first time in more than three years, 6-2.
The Kings, who were 0-8-3 in their last 11 meetings with the Canucks, played before their smallest crowd in nearly nine years (Feb. 11, 1988). Only 9,548 fans turned out for the lowest attendance for a Kings' game since the pre-Wayne Gretzky era.
Tsyplakov and Kevin Stevens got Los Angeles off to a quick 2-0 lead in the first five minutes of the contest. Vancouver came back on a goal by Adrian Aucoin, but the Kings scored the next three for a commanding 5-1 lead.
Olczyk's hat trick was the first by a King this season and gave him 13 goals on the season. Tsyplakov has four goals and five assists in his last nine games.
"I don't know if I have been pressing but I've just been frustrated," Olczyk said. "I've been through these for over 13 years and I just wish they would stop and I could go on a long streak like some of the big players. You have to enjoy it while you can."
Stephane Fiset snapped a monthlong winless streak by stopping 36 shots. The six goals equaled Los Angeles' total for its previous four games combined.
"It's only one game but at least the effort was there," said Kings coach Larry Robinson. "I think it proves to our guys that when we put the effort in they can win some hockey games."
The loss prevented the Canucks from moving above the .500 mark and snapped their three-game winning streak. "It was a chance to get a step above .500 but we stepped on our feet," Sillinger said. "It seems like every time we get down by a couple of goals we expect someone else to pick the team up."
Tsyplakov's 10th goal of the season, a wrist shot from the right circle that beat Corey Hirsch high to the glove side, staked the Kings to a 1-0 lead. Stevens scored on the power play just over two minutes later for a two-goal cushion.
After Aucoin halved the deficit with just over six minutes remaining in the first period, Olczyk restored Los Angeles' two-goal advantage midway through the second. Aki Berg took a shot from the left point and the puck trickled behind Hirsch. Olczyk tapped the puck home for a 3-1 lead.
"I don't think we started quite the way we wanted to," said Canucks coach Tom Renney. "We were still in contention after the first period but the second period was our demise, we didn't answer the bell like we should have."
With the teams skating four aside, Tsyplakov took a perfect cross-ice pass from Dimitri Khristich and buried the puck past Hirsch low to the glove side.
Olczyk tallied twice in the third period, the final time into an empty net as the Kings won for just the second time in their last 13 games (2-10-1).
Jon's 3 stars:
1. Ed Olczyk
2. Vladimir Tsplakov
3. Pavel Bure
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