Canucks crushed by Tyler Toffoli, Kings

The Vancouver Canucks had plenty of fight at the start, but little at the end Monday night.

Tyler Toffoli scored three goals and Jonathan Quick made 27 saves for the 40th shutout of his NHL career as the Los Angeles 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 didn't let them come after us and I think that's the way you have to play if you're gonna be successful, but that played right into their hands," said Canucks coach Willie Desjardins. "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."

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. Toffoli increased his goal total to 17 on the season. Derek Forbort, with his first NHL career goal, and Brayden McNabb also scored for the Kings while Anze Kopitar provided four assists.

"We were missing some guys in the lineup and it showed tonight," said Desjardins. "It just showed. They're a good team. I thought the guys that were in the lineup battled hard, but it wasn't enough tonight."

Markstrom's 3rd straight start

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.

Vancouver defenceman Alex Biega tussled with Kings rearguard McNabb after just 31 seconds. McNabb blindsided 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.

About five minutes later, 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 in Drew Doughty's point shot during a power play at 12:56.

"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."

The Canucks will host Anaheim on New Year's Day. The Kings visit the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday.