VANCOUVER – Jonathan Quick made 19 saves for his fifth shutout of the season Thursday as the Los Angeles Kings defeated the Vancouver Canucks 4-0.
Justin Williams and Anze Kopitar each had a goal and an assist, while Tyler Toffoli and Marian Gaborik, into an empty net, also scored for Los Angeles (33-21-13), which has now won four of its last five and 12 of 16 overall.
The Kings, who improved to 3-0-0 against the Canucks this season with two meetings still to come, jumped over Winnipeg and into the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference after the Jets dropped a 4-2 decision to the Florida Panthers earlier Thursday.
Eddie Lack made 16 stops for Vancouver (38-25-4), which entered play second in the Pacific Division, a point up on the Calgary Flames and three ahead of the Kings, but generated very little against Quick.
Up 1-0 after the first, the Kings doubled their lead at 3:59 of the second thanks to a bad change and some suspect defensive zone coverage from the Canucks. Los Angeles defenceman Brayden McNabb took the puck down the boards unchallenged and found a wide-open Williams, who had circled the Vancouver net and was left all alone to tap his 17th of the season past a helpless Lack.
It marked the fifth time in the last six games the Canucks have found themselves down 2-0. They pushed back a little after the Williams’ goal, but rarely threatened to get anything past Quick, who picked up the 36th shutout of his career.
The defending Stanley Cup champions then put the game out of reach 25 seconds into the third when Kopitar intercepted a poor clearing attempt by Canucks defenceman Dan Hamhuis and beat Lack shortside for his 14th of the season.
The Kings nursed that lead the rest of the way, keeping the hosts off the shot clock until Quick snagged a Daniel Sedin effort with 9:35 left.
Gaborik then scored his 21st into an empty net with 4:24 remaining.
Los Angeles opened the scoring with 3:19 left in the first period when Toffoli took a pass at the bottom of the left faceoff circle on a power play and roofed a perfect shot up and over Lack’s shoulder for his 20th of the season and first in 10 games.
Vancouver’s best chance of the opening 20 minutes came near the midway point of the period when Quick made a nice save on Sedin from the slot.
Comments