SoCal NHL Preview

Vancouver (34-24-10) at Los Angeles (27-38-5), 7:30pm

LOS ANGELES (Ticker) - The Vancouver Canucks will look to avoid being swept in a season series with the Los Angeles Kings for the first time in 27 years when the teams clash at the Staples Center on Monday.

The Canucks are tied with Nashville (35-27-8) for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference, but would be in a far better standing had they been more successful against the lowly Kings.

Los Angeles, which has an NHL-low 59 points and will miss the playoffs for the fifth consecutive campaign, has defeated Vancouver all three times this season by an aggregate score of 12-7. The Canucks are three points behind Minnesota (37-26-7) and two points back of Calgary (35-23-10) and Colorado (37-27-6) in the battle for supremacy in the Northwest Division.

The game will mark the start of a four-game road trip for Vancouver, which is coming off a 4-2 win over St. Louis on Saturday for its second straight win. The Kings, who are 1-4-2 in their last seven games, suffered a 5-2 home loss to Montreal on Saturday.