Mark Spector

Mark Spector is a columnist for sportsnet.ca

Shane O'Brien costs his team $25,000 and the referees "might be favouring the Kings."

LOS ANGELES — Shane O’Brien drew Vancouver Canucks management’s ire when he packed on a few extra kilos during the Olympic break. Now, he has cost the organization twenty five grand.

O’Brien was fined $2,500, Vigneault $1,000, and the Canucks a tidy $25,000 by the National Hockey League after O’Brien playfully flipped a puck at former teammate Jeff Halpern during the warmup prior to Game 3. The two played together in Tampa.

In another incident from the Game 3 warmup, L.A. winger Rich Clune reached across the centre line to put a stick on the arm of Vancouver’s Ryan Kesler. Clune received a $2,500 fine from NHL disciplinarian Colin Campbell, while Kings head coach Terry Murray was dinged $1,000, and the Los Angeles organization $25,000.

The coaches fines are "suspended," which means they will not be levied if both teams proceed through the playoffs without any similar incidents taking place.

"In Game 1 Halpern kind of flipped a puck at me. In Game 3 I returned the favour," O’Brien said Wednesday. "It was more innocent fun than anything. Obviously, come puck drop there are no friends out there. I played with Halpern in Tampa and we were just trying to get under his skin a bit. Apparently the NHL didn’t find it quite as amusing as me and Halpy did."

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They allowed goals on each of three Los Angeles power plays in Game 3, and the Canucks have been seen digging the puck out of their net on an amazing five of the past six Kings’ power plays.

And so the coaches poured over the films, and the PK unit met on the off day here in L.A. As suspected, the meeting was less about technical deployments while shorthanded, and more about effort, dedication and self-sacrifice.

"Give them credit," Vigneault said about the Kings. "Their power play has had a lot of movement, they’ve been able to find lanes and get pucks to the net. We’ve been a fraction of a second behind, and it’s cost us. We’re aware of it and we’re going to be much better tonight."

Better technically? Or emotionally?

"There wasn’t a whole lot of film," O’Brien said of the meeting. "The main thing is, we’ve got to be more desperate, block more shots. That’s what it comes down to."

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So, tell us: When did Michal Handzus get this good?

Isn’t this the same guy who signed a four-year, $16 million deal three seasons ago, and proceeded to "pile up" 63 points and a minus-28 over the first two full seasons?

Suddenly, Handzus’ line — with Fredrik Modin and Brad Richardson — is the story of this series, not only erasing the Sedins through Games 2 and 3, but combining for five of the Kings’ 10 goals.

"Very good checking players. Very responsible," said Kings coach Terry Murray. "They’re big bodies. They’re guys who can hold on to the puck."

Come to think of it, wasn’t Modin washed up in Columbus also? Didn’t he play just 97 games in the final three years of his deal there, averaging 14 points a season?

And this Brad Richardson? Who is this guy?

"They’re big and strong, and they obviously had the puck a lot down low," Daniel Sedin said, when asked about how that line dominated the Canucks' No. 1 unit in Game 3.

The Handzus line had the puck all night, obviously making it tough for the Sedins to rack up their customary points. How do you change that for Game 4?

"When they have the puck, you can’t cheat (defensively)," Daniel said. "You’ve got to get them to chip the puck in, and then you’ve got to play strong. Get down low, help our defencemen. We’ll do a better job of that tonight."

The short answer for fighting through the Handzus line? Work harder.

"It’s not easy," said Vigneault. "You’ve got to play through it."

•••

This inane conspiracy theory that somehow the National Hockey League wants the Canucks to fail and the Kings to succeed continues to shame coverage of this series.

One of the most asinine schools of thought ever concocted to explain away a couple of losses gets dumped in the laps of the Canucks players seemingly every time the media gathers, and they are forced to answer for it. Then when you hear the sound bite, it is as if the campaign is being waged by the Canucks themselves, rather than the halfwit fans and media out there who would actually subscribe to a theory so intensely stupid and paranoid.

Yes, in case you didn’t notice. It bugs us.

"Do the refs favour Los Angeles," Mikael Samuelsson was asked.

"Oh, yeah. Definitely," he said, heavy on the sarcasm. "No. That’s a weird way to look at it. It’s an easy excuse."

Asked the same question, Daniel Sedin politely answered: "No. You earn your breaks. Right now, we’re obviously not earning them. It’s going to turn around."