VANCOUVER — The Vancouver Canucks had plenty of fight at the start Monday night — but the Los Angeles Kings made sure they did not finish well.
Tyler Toffoli scored three goals and Jonathan Quick made 27 saves for the 40th shutout of his NHL career as the Kings blanked the Canucks 5-0.
The Kings (22-11-2) posted their second consecutive victory. Vancouver (14-15-9) saw a brief winning spell end at two games. The Canucks have yet to win three games in a row this season.
Kings defenceman Brayden McNabb’s hit on Vancouver captain Henrik Sedin produced an angry response from the Canucks, but they could not gain revenge by scoring. Vancouver was shut out for the fourth time in 11 games.
"We had a good game but I think it all started with (McNabb) on the first shift,” said Toffoli. “Quick made some huge saves and kind of kept them out of it."
Quick, who now has two shutouts this season, was rarely tested as the Kings outshot the Canucks 38-27 while leading 1-0 after the first period and 3-0 after the second.
“We got them excited and when you do that, they're a good hockey team -- and they showed it tonight,” said Canucks coach Willie Desjardins.
Toffoli increased his goal total to 17 on the season. Derek Forbort, with his first NHL career goal, and McNabb also scored for the Kings while Anze Kopitar provided four assists.
“We preached a really good start and we were able to do that and just carry on from there,” said McNabb.
Vancouver defenceman Alex Biega tussled with McNabb just 31 seconds into the game after the King caught Sedin while he had his head down.
"I thought it was a flying elbow to the head, but the ref said it was a clean hit,” said Sedin.
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 an undisclosed lower-body injury.
About five minutes after McNabb and Biega skirmished, Vancouver rookie defenceman Andrey Pedan fought Jordan Nolan, with the Canuck scoring a clear victory in his first NHL bout. Less than a minute after, Vancouver's Brandon Prust fought McNabb in an apparent attempt to avenge the hit on Sedin.
But the Canucks showed little aggression in the offensive zone most of the night.
"It was a little bit frustrating,” said Sedin. “Our pushback in the first couple of minutes (when) there were a couple of questionable hits from their side, I thought was good. But we didn't create enough scoring chances.”
Toffoli opened the scoring at 15:33 of the first period after a Milan Lucic pass from the corner bounced off Kopitar to him in the slot. After Forbort and McNabb scored in the second to put the Kings ahead 3-0, Toffoli scored his second goal at 5:55 of the third and completed his hat-trick by deflecting Drew Doughty's point shot during a power play at 12:56.
Toffoli and Kopitar made up for the absence of L.A. top scorer Jeff Carter, who was sidelined with an undisclosed upper-body injury.
“Obviously when a guy like Carts goes down, everybody has to come together and step up,” said Kopitar.
The Canucks will host Anaheim on New Year's Day. The Kings visit the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday.
