In Vancouver Monday night, Los Angeles’ Jonathan Quick made 27 saves in a 5-0 shutout of the Canucks.
Anze Kopitar picked up four assists in the win.
“Obviously, when a guy like [Carter] goes down, everybody has to come together and step up,” Kopitar said. “It’s not only one guy that is going to carry his load, because those are obviously very big shoes to fill, but tonight we had a pretty good start.”
Jonathan Quick picked up 40th career shutout in Vancouver – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
Tyler Toffoli scored a hat trick including two goals in the third period to quash any hope the Canucks had of a rally.
Defensemen Derek Forbort and Brayden McNabb scored in the second period to build a 3-0 lead with Toffoli’s first in the opening frame.
The game was physical early and McNabb set the early tone with a big hit on Henrik Sedin.
“We had a tough hit and we came back and we battled; we just didn’t accept it,” Vancouver coach Willie Desjardins said. “But that played right into their hands. 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.”
Jeff Carter is day-to-day with a hand injury sustained in the Arizona game over the weekend.
Without carter, Toffoli was set up three times by Kopitar and the defense kicked in two big goals.
“That’s what we take pride in as a team, for everybody to contribute and all find a way to score goals and make plays and just get us some momentum,” Toffoli said, who now leads LA with 17 goals on the season.
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