Kings 3, Canadiens 0
MONTREAL -- Two quick goals in the second period lifted the Los Angeles Kings to a 3-0 win against the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night at the Bell Centre.
Goaltender Jonathan Quick stopped 45 shots for the Kings while Mike Condon made 17 saves for Montreal (20-10-3), which was shut out for the first time this season.
Defenseman Drew Doughty, center Anze Kopitar and right winger Marian Gaborik scored for Los Angeles (20-9-2).
The Kings made the most of their limited opportunities to open the scoring at 14:47 of the second period. With a penalty to Montreal defenseman P.K. Subban expiring, right winger Tyler Toffoli skated the puck up from the slot to the blue line to dish off to Doughty on the right side. Doughty wasted little time in getting his shot off, beating a screened Condon as Subban stepped out of the box.
Kopitar doubled the Kings' lead just over a minute and a half later. Gaborik, behind the net, found Doughty along the right wall just outside the circle. Doughty paused before sending a perfect feed to a streaking Kopitar on the back door at the bottom of the left circle.
The Canadiens weren't without their chances in this one. In the first period, after left winger Max Pacioretty broke in short-handed only to be denied, Lars Eller followed suit on the next shift only to hit the post. In the second period, Quick gloved defenseman Andrei Markov's shot stick side on the power play while a little later, Jeff Petry fed right winger Daniel Carr for a perfect deflection but Carr's tip went wide.
Trailing by a pair in the third, Montreal picked up the pace even more but Quick stood tall.
Pacioretty took a shot from the low slot while battling with a Kings defender that trickled past the Los Angeles netminder and got the crowd excited before he scooped it out of harm's way. Less than two minutes later, Quick stopped center Alex Galchenyuk in close with a perfectly timed poke check.
Gaborik closed out the scoring with an empty-net tally.
NOTES: Montreal kept its lineup intact, leaving LW Charles Hudon, D Jarred Tinordi and D Greg Pateryn as the healthy scratches. ... The Kings scratched D Derek Forbort, and LW Kyle Clifford and C Trevor Lewis remained sidelined with upper-body injuries. ... Canadiens C Tomas Plekanec appeared in his 794th career NHL game, tying him with Jean-Claude Tremblay for 19th on the team's games played list. ... Los Angeles coach Darryl Sutter stood behind the bench for the 1,152nd time, surpassing Marc Crawford for 15th overall in NHL history. ... The game marked the first for former Bruins LW Milan Lucic against Montreal since he was traded to the Kings during the offseason.