Quick, Kings blank Canucks 3-0
Goaltender Jonathan Quick stopped 35 shots for his fourth shutout of the season as the hometown Los Angeles Kings blanked the Vancouver Canucks 3-0 on Monday night.
With the win, the Kings moved above the National Hockey League playoff bar. Their 81 points put two points behind San Jose for second place in the Pacific Division. L.A. also moved a point ahead of both Colorado and Anaheim in the Western Conference wild-card race.
Tyler Toffoli led the Kings with a goal and an assist, while Anze Kopitar, Tanner Pearson also tallied for the Kings as they posted their eighth win in 12 games.
"We're just playing a pretty well-rounded game," Toffoli told Sportsnet. "So we're doing some good things."
L.A. made up for an embarrassing 7-2 loss to the struggling St. Louis Blues on Saturday, when Quick was pulled after allowing four goals.
The Canucks, destined to miss the playoffs, were shut out for the second straight night after losing 1-0 to the Arizona Coyotes in Phoenix on Sunday.
Canucks netminder Anders Nilsson blocked 30 of 33 shots.
The Canucks continued to struggle offensively without rookie sensation and top scorer Brock Boeser. They have not won in the four games that Boeser has missed since suffering what was a likely season-ending back injury on March 5. Vancouver has only scored only three goals combined since then, losing all four games in regulation.
Toffoli opened the scoring 1:57 into the second period as he beat Nilsson on a breakaway after taking a stretch pass from defenseman Jake Muzzin from deep in the L.A. end.
Kopitar got credit for the Kings' second goal at 14:54 of the middle frame. As the Kings captain attempted a pass from the corner, Canucks defenseman Troy Stecher tried to clear the puck -- but instead put it into his own net.
Pearson extended the Kings' lead to 3-0 at 10:53 of the third period by exploiting the Vancouver goaltender's tendency to go down too low too soon. Skating with the puck in front of the net, Pearson waited for Nilsson to go down and then skated around him and fired it into the top of the net.
--Field Level Media
