Los Angeles Kings forward Tanner Pearson reacts after teammate Kurtis MacDermid scores a goal against Montreal Canadiens goalie Carey Price during the third period at the Bell Centre in Montreal, on Oct. 26, 2017.Eric Bolte
Adrian Kempe and Tyler Toffoli scored 11 seconds apart in the first period and Jonathan Quick got a shutout in his 500th career game as the Los Angeles Kings downed the Montreal Canadiens 4-0 on Thursday night.
Anze Kopitar and Kurtis MacDermid also scored for the Western Conference-leading Kings (8-1-1), who beat the Canadiens 5-2 last week in Los Angeles.
The Canadiens (2-7-1) thought their goal-scoring woes were behind them when they beat Florida 5-1 on Tuesday night, but the bad luck and worse shooting were back in force as they outshot Los Angeles 40-27. It was Quick's 46th career shutout and his second this season.
Quick, the 72nd overall draft pick in 2005 who led the Kings to Stanley Cups in 2012 and 2014, improved his career record to 266-168-54
The Canadiens had a 16-8 edge in first period shots and missed a handful of chances, but it was Los Angeles that struck first. Carey Price cleared the puck to the left boards where it got past Paul Byron. Derek Forbort shot it toward the net where Kempe tipped it past Price from the left circle at 18:59. It was Kempe's sixth goal in his last five games.
Play had just resumed when a Victor Mete turnover in the Montreal zone allowed Toffoli to walk in and blast in his third goal of the campaign at 19:10.
Montreal was all over the Kings in the second frame and again, it was Los Angeles that scored as Kopitar broke in with each team down a man and snapped a wrist shot to the top corner at 14:35.
MacDermid's shot went into the air off Andrew Shaw's stick near the blueline and landed behind Price 3:58 into the third. Kempe picked up an assist to give the 21-year-old Swede nine points this season.
The Kings, in the fourth of a six-game road trip, were without injured forwards Jeff Carter, Marian Gaborik and Kyle Clifford.
Montreal's Nikita Scherbak left in the second period with a lower body injury after a collision with a goal post.