Quick makes 45 saves, Kings beat Canadiens 3-0

MONTREAL (AP) Jonathan Quick stopped everything the Montreal Canadiens threw at him on Thursday night.

Quick made a season-high 45 saves, Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty scored and the Los Angeles Kings beat the Montreal Canadiens 3-0.

The shutout was Quick's second of the season and 39th of his career. It was also his 17th victory of the year.

''They had a good amount of zone time,'' Quick said of Montreal. ''The shot guys here are pretty generous. I don't think we got outplayed the way the shot differential was. We were right there most of the game.

''They had their moments with extended zone times, but we weathered it.''

Marian Gaborik added an empty-net goal to help the Kings improve to 20-9-2.

Mike Condon made 17 saves for Montreal and has lost four straight starts.

The Canadiens have lost six of their last seven games and scored just 11 goals over that stretch. They fell to 20-10-3.

''We dominated a lot of these losses,'' coach Michel Therrien said. ''This bad stretch will make us a better team. We're playing good hockey, so we're not panicking.''

Quick was sensational throughout the game. Montreal hit him with 18 shots in the first period en route to a season-high for shots on goal.

Quick stopped Tomas Plekanec with the glove late in the first and denied Torrey Mitchell from point-blank range in the second.

Quick stopped 15 shots in the third period. He made an acrobatic stop at 2:30 to poke the puck off the goal line after a shot by Habs captain Max Pacioretty. Minutes later, Quick made a pad save on Alex Galchenyuk on a breakaway.

''Without a doubt they dominated the third period,'' Doughty said. ''They're a good offensive team and good offensive teams get chances.

''Quick played great tonight and without him we wouldn't have won.''

Condon was solid in his first start in over a week, but two quick goals by the Kings in the second period dropped the home side.

After a hard-hitting, scoreless first period, the visitors got on the board at 14:47 of the second. As P.K. Subban stepped out of the penalty box, Doughty rifled a shot from the blue line into the top of the net.

Kopitar added Los Angeles' second goal less than 2 minutes later. Kopitar took advantage of blown coverage by defenseman Alexei Emelin to walk in alone and beat Condon for his ninth goal of the season.

Kopitar has 13 points in his last 13 games.

The Habs went 0 for 3 on the power play and are 0 for 21 with a man advantage in their last seven games. The team's last power-play goal came on Dec. 1.

''The work ethic was exceptional tonight,'' Therrien said. ''Their goalie was at the height of his game tonight. We lost this game but it wasn't for lack of effort. Our guys worked extremely hard and deserved a lot more.''

Notes: L.A. leads the Pacific Division. ... Montreal's lead in the Atlantic is down to five points. ... The Kings are 13-1-0 when leading after two periods. ... Montreal now embarks on an eight-game trip, starting in Dallas on Saturday.