MONTREAL — Jonathan Quick stopped everything the Montreal Canadiens threw at him on Thursday night.
Quick made a season-high 45 saves as the Los Angeles Kings shut out the Canadiens 3-0.
Montreal fired 18 shots on Quick in the first, 12 in the second and another 15 in the third. Overall, the Canadiens outshot Los Angeles 45-20.
"They had a good amount of zone time," said Quick of the Habs. "The shot guys here are pretty generous. I don’t think we got outplayed the way the shot differential was. We were right there most of the game.
"They had their moments with extended zone times, but we weathered it."
The shutout was Quick’s second of the season and 39th of his career. It was also his 17th victory of the year.
The 29-year-old stopped Tomas Plekanec with his glove late in the first and denied Torrey Mitchell from point blank range in the second.
In the third, Quick made an acrobatic stop at 2:30, turning to his right to poke the puck off the goal line after a shot by Montreal captain Max Pacioretty. Minutes later, he made a pad save on a Alex Galchenyuk breakaway.
And with the Montreal net empty for the extra attacker, Quick made back-to-back saves on P.K. Subban from the point and Dale Weise from in close.
Weise and Pacioretty combined for 15 of their team’s 45 shots.
"Without a doubt they dominated the third period," said Kings defenceman Drew Doughty, who had a goal and an assist. "They’re a good offensive team and good offensive teams get chances.
"Quick played great tonight and without him we wouldn’t have won."
Mike Condon was solid in his first start in over a week, but two quick goals by Los Angeles in the second period sunk the Canadiens (20-10-3).
After a hard-hitting, scoreless first period, the visitors got on the board at 14:47 of the second. As Subban stepped out of the penalty box, Doughty rifled a shot from the blue line into the top of the net to put the Kings up 1-0.
Anze Kopitar added a second goal for Los Angeles (20-9-2) less than two minutes later. Kopitar took advantage of blown coverage by defenceman Alexei Emelin to walk in all alone, take a pass from Doughty and beat Condon easily for his ninth goal of the season.
"I just saw a big seam and saw Kopitar going back door," said Doughty. "When you give Kopitar those passes, they usually go in."
Kopitar has 13 points in his last 13 games.
Marian Gaborik added Los Angeles’ third goal, in an empty net, at 19:11.
The Canadiens have lost six of their last seven games, scoring just 11 goals over that stretch. Montreal’s lead in the Atlantic Division is down to five points.
"We dominated a lot of these losses," said coach Michel Therrien. "This bad stretch will make us a better team. We’re playing good hockey, so we’re not panicking."
The Habs went 0 for 3 on the power play Thursday and have not scored with the man advantage in their last seven games (0 for 21). The team’s last power-play goal came on Dec. 1.
"The work ethic was exceptional tonight," added Therrien. "Their goalie was at the height of his game tonight. We lost this game but it wasn’t for lack of effort. Our guys worked extremely hard and deserved a lot more."
Condon, who has now lost his last four starts, made 17 saves.
Montreal embarks on an eight-game road trip, starting with the Stars in Dallas on Saturday.
Notes: L.A. leads the Pacific Division with 42 points. The Kings are 13-1-0 when leading after two periods.
