RECAP: Kings' Quick stops 19 shots in shutout of Canucks

By foxsports
Published

Jonathan Quick made 19 saves for his fifth shutout of the season, and the Los Angeles Kings beat the Vancouver Canucks 4-0 on Thursday night.

Justin Williams and Anze Kopitar each had a goal and an assist, and Tyler Toffoli and Marian Gaborik also scored for Los Angeles, which has won four of five and 12 of 16.

The Kings, 3-0 against the Canucks this season with two meetings remaining, jumped over Winnipeg and into the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference. The Jets lost 4-2 at Florida earlier Thursday.

Eddie Lack made 16 saves for Vancouver, which entered play second in the Pacific Division, one point ahead of Calgary and three ahead of the Kings, but the Canucks generated very little against Quick.

The Kings took a 2-0 lead 3:59 into the second period thanks to a bad change and some suspect defensive zone coverage from the Canucks. Los Angeles defenseman Brayden McNabb took the puck down the boards unchallenged and found a wide-open Williams, who had circled the Vancouver net and was left alone to tap his 17th goal of the season past a helpless Lack.

It marked the fifth time in six games the Canucks have trailed 2-0. They pushed back a little after the Williams' goal, but rarely threatened to get anything past Quick, who earned his 36th NHL shutout.

The defending Stanley Cup champion Kings put the game out of reach 25 seconds into the third when Kopitar intercepted a poor clearing attempt by defenseman Dan Hamhuis and beat Lack short-side for his 14th goal.

The Kings kept the Canucks away from their net until Quick snagged Daniel Sedin's shot with 9:35 left.

Gaborik then scored his 21st goal 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 circle during a power play and put 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 period came near the midway point when Quick made a nice save on Sedin from the slot.