Sedins to play on penalty kill unit vs. Kings

At the Vancouver Canucks realize that what’s costing them wins in the playoffs isn’t some conspiracy, but some horrible execution in a number of key areas. Vancouver will be going with Roberto Luongo in net, so they haven’t exactly addressed that problem.

But the absurdly bad penalty killing, in which the the Kings have scored on a ridiculous 7-of-12 power plays, can be seen as perhaps the biggest factor in these losses and the Canucks are desperate to fix the issue.

How desperate? It appears that Daniel and Henrik Sedin will see significant time on the penalty kill as the series heads for a pivotal Game 4 tonight. Per Jason Botchford of The Province:

“Things aren’t going our way, but the things that aren’t going our way are easy to correct because it’s the penalty killing,” Daniel Sedin said. “If we correct that, and be a little bit better, we’re going to be in every game and have a really good chance of winning.

“That’s our No. 1 problem.”

It’s certainly a desperation move, putting your best offensive players on the penalty kill. But the Canucks have run out of options, and going down 3-1 to the Kings is not an option. At least if the Canucks are trying something different, instead of sticking with the same old approach that is constantly failing.

And if you’re giving up more power play goals than you can keep up with, might as well have some counterattack options out on the ice.