LOS ANGELES – Tyler Toffoli had a goal and two assists, and Jonathan Quick made 18 saves in the Los Angeles Kings’ 5-1 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night.
Marian Gaborik, Anze Kopitar, Jeff Carter and Jake Muzzin had a goal and an assist apiece in the defending Stanley Cup champions’ second win in seven games. Los Angeles abruptly returned to top form to demolish the Canucks, who had won six of seven.
Ryan Miller yielded four goals on 22 shots before Eddie Lack replaced him to start the third period. Vancouver avoided its first shutout loss of the season on Chris Higgins’ goal with 7:53 to play.
Alec Martinez had a career-high three assists for Los Angeles, which dressed just five defensemen when Robyn Regehr sat out with an injury.
The Kings couldn’t recall a defenseman to fill in for Regehr or suspended Slava Voynov because they were roughly $160 shy of enough salary-cap room to make a move.
But Drew Doughty played 29:46 and Muzzin clocked 25:36 while recording his first multipoint game of the season.
“I thought we did a good job in what was obviously a weird situation,” said Martinez, who played 25:30.
Kopitar and Gaborik also came through with their first multipoint games of the season after coach Darryl Sutter singled out the top-line stars for their lack of productivity in a loss to the Islanders on Thursday.
Miller had won seven straight while starting out 10-1-0 for normally stingy Vancouver, which had yielded more than two goals just once in seven games. The Canucks have lost their last four games at Staples Center, getting outscored 14-3.
Los Angeles dominated from the opening minutes. Gaborik scored his first goal of an injury-slowed season off a rebound midway through the first period, and Muzzin wired a long wrist shot through traffic nearly five minutes later.
Kopitar scored on a sharp-angled wrist shot past Miller’s ear late in the first, and Toffoli scored his seventh goal of the season on a rebound midway through the second.
Carter added his sixth goal of the season on a breakaway early in the third. Carter, Toffoli and Tanner Pearson — otherwise known as That 70s Line — combined for six points, giving them 31 points in 15 games this season despite a recent slowdown in their stellar production.
NOTES: Kopitar’s last multipoint game was Game 4 of the Western Conference finals against Chicago last May. He posted just seven points in his 19 games since then. … Longtime Kings prospect Linden Vey earned an assist for Vancouver on Higgins’ goal. The Kings traded their former fourth-round pick to the Canucks last June. … Carter earned an assist on Toffoli’s goal, snapping his six-game scoreless streak, tied for the longest of his career.
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