Toffoli gets hat trick; Quick, Kings beat Canucks 5-0
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) The Los Angeles Kings took all the fight the Vancouver Canucks could muster early. There wasn't much left by the end.
Tyler Toffoli scored three goals, Jonathan Quick got his 40th career shutout and the Kings beat the Canucks 5-0 on Monday night.
The Kings won their second straight and snapped Vancouver's two-game win streak. The Canucks have yet to win three games in a row this season.
Quick made 27 saves in his second shutout this season and was rarely tested. The Kings outshot the Canucks 38-27, leading 1-0 after one period and 3-0 after two.
Toffoli finished his hat trick on a power play with 7:04 left. Derek Forbort got his first NHL goal and Brayden McNabb also scored. Anze Kopitar had four assists.
The game got off to a feisty start. Vancouver defenseman Alex Biega tussled with McNabb 31 seconds in after McNabb blindsided Vancouver captain Henrik Sedin while he had his head down.
About 5 minutes later, Vancouver rookie defenseman Andrey Pedan fought Jordan Nolan, with the Canuck scoring a clear victory in his first NHL bout. Less than a minute later, Vancouver's Brandon Prust fought McNabb in an apparent attempt to avenge he hit on Sedin.
''We had a good game but I think it all started with (McNabb) on the first shift,'' Toffoli said. ''Quick made some huge saves and kind of kept them out of it.''
Vancouver was shut out for the fourth time in its past 11 games.
''We didn't let them come after us and I think that's the way you have to play if you're gonna be successful, but that played right into their hands,'' Canucks coach Willie Desjardins said. ''That's the type of game they want to play. But we had to play that. We got dragged into that. We got them excited and when you do that, they're a good hockey team - and they showed it tonight.''
Canucks goaltender Jacob Markstrom made 33 saves in his third straight start in place of injured No. 1 netminder Ryan Miller, who is sidelined with a lower-body injury.
Toffoli opened the scoring at 15:33 of the first period after Milan Lucic's pass from the corner bounced off Kopitar to him in the slot. The Kings outshot the Canucks 16-9 in the first after holding an 11-2 edge at one point.
Forbort gave the Kings a 2-0 lead at 1:57 of the second when his long slap shot deflected in off Pedan. McNabb put Los Angeles ahead 3-0 on another slap shot 10 minutes later after Kopitar won a faceoff and the puck went back to the blue line.
Toffoli scored his second goal at 5:55 of the third after he stole the puck while the Canucks were trying to come out of their zone and the disk eventually came back to him. He completed his hat-trick by deflecting in Drew Doughty's point shot during a power play.
NOTES: The Canucks lost winger Sven Baertschi in the second period to a lower-body injury. ... Canucks winger Chris Higgins played in his 700th NHL regular-season game. He returned to the lineup after missing two games with a back injury. Meanwhile, Canucks winger Alex Burrows also returned after missing a win Saturday over Edmonton due to a stiff neck. ... In addition to Miller, Vancouver played without defensemen Dan Hamhuis (facial fractures), Luca Sbisa (hand) and Chris Tanev (foot) and center Brandon Sutter (sports hernia). ...The Kings were missing top scorer Jeff Carter (upper-body), defenseman Matt Greene (shoulder) and wingers Dwight King (foot) and Kyle Clifford (lower-body). Defenseman Christian Ehrhoff was a healthy scratch for the second straight game. ... The Canucks will host Anaheim on New Year's Day. The Kings visit the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday night.