LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Kings jumped on a couple of early scoring chances and spent the rest of the night playing stellar defence. When a few shots broke through that defensive front, Jonathan Quick was there. The Kings won the Stanley Cup two years ago with that basic formula, and they can see it clicking again as they close in on another playoff run. Jeff Carter scored his 250th career NHL goal on a power play, Quick made 17 saves to remain unbeaten since the Olympic break, and the Kings beat the Montreal Canadiens 2-1 Monday night for their fifth straight victory. Jake Muzzin scored an early goal for the Kings, who have won four games in six days since the break to solidify their playoff position in the Pacific Division, 10 points ahead of fourth-place Vancouver. The Kings might not be the most eye-catching team in the NHL, but the back-to-back Western Conference finalists results are becoming increasingly attractive. "Were playing the way I expected us to play coming out of the break," said Justin Williams, who got an assist on Muzzins goal just 1:54 in by leading a rush. "Were playing hard and not giving up leads. We do need to capitalize on more of our chances, but its two points we need for playoff position." Los Angeles took an early lead and hung on through 35 closing minutes of scoreless hockey for its first home victory over the Canadiens since March 8, 2003. Quick put together another outstanding game for the Kings on the heels of his performance for the U.S. national team in Sochi, making a handful of big saves to beat the Canadiens for the first time in his career. With his 168th win, the Conn Smythe Trophy winner is just three behind Rogie Vachon for the Los Angeles franchise record. "The style that we play, those are the kind of games youre going to see more often than not," Quick said. "At times it was a little slow, but I thought we carried the game for the most part. We didnt give them many opportunities. It was the kind of game you want to play." The Kings followed up their 6-0 victory at Montreal on Dec. 10 with another solid performance against the Canadiens built around that defence. Los Angeles has allowed an NHL-low 134 goals, and Montreal couldnt crack the Kings defence except for P.K. Subbans fortunate deflection goal late in the first period. "We played against the best defensive team in the league, and that showed," Montreal coach Michel Therrien said. Peter Budaj stopped 20 shots for Montreal, which had won five of six. The Canadiens opened a four-game West Coast trip with their first regulation loss since Feb. 2 -- and a taste of the frustration felt by Los Angeles more frequent opponents. "We couldnt get much sustained pressure, and thats a big part of it," Montreal captain Brian Gionta said. "We got a lucky bounce on the one goal, but for the most part, we werent able to get to the net as freely as we wanted. Weve got to give them credit for that, but weve got to find ways to break through." Montreal put goalie Carey Price on injured reserve with an apparent groin injury before the game, eight days after he posted a shutout in Canadas gold medal-winning victory over Sweden in Sochi. Budaj has started every game since the break, but Price might be able to play in Wednesdays game at NHL-leading Anaheim. Although Los Angeles dominated possession early, the Canadiens tied it late in the period when Quick blocked Subbans long shot, and the puck ricocheted off Jarret Stoll and into Quicks net. Carter put the Kings back ahead early in the second period, putting Anze Kopitars pass into the top corner of Budajs net with a slick wrist shot for his 22nd goal of the season. "The first 10 minutes, they certainly were coming fast, and we didnt have an answer for it," Montreal forward Brendan Gallagher said. "At the end, we had our chances and started to create stuff, but they are a good defensive team and they dont give up a lot." NOTES: Montreal visited Staples Center for the first time since Dec. 3, 2011. ... Australian Open champion Stan Wawrinka and rising star Eugenie Bouchard, a Montreal-area native, both attended the game. The BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif., began Monday with qualifying play. ... Stoll played in his 700th NHL game. Pavel Datsyuk Jersey . Saltalamacchia drove in the go-ahead run in the ninth inning, Henderson Alvarez won for the first time in three starts and the Miami Marlins beat the Braves 3-2 on Thursday night. Sergei Fedorov Jersey .Then came December.Three straight losses, including a crushing 27-24 defeat to Washington (4-11) on Saturday, has the Eagles (9-6) on the brink of playoff elimination. http://www.redwingshockeyauthentic.com/curtis-joseph-jersey/ . 15-23, the Ottawa Senators will by hoping to avoid going five straight games without a victory for the first time since a 0-3-2 drought from Oct. Frans Nielsen Jersey . -- The Oakland Raiders expect to have starting right tackle Tony Pashos back for Sundays game against the Houston Texans. Mike Green Jersey . Al Harrington, another former Knicks forward, scored 22 of his 24 points after halftime for the Nuggets, allowing them to withstand Anthonys attempt to rally the Knicks after his poor shooting had them behind until the final minutes of regulation. Anthony finished with 25 points and 10 rebounds, missing 20 of 30 shots in the Knicks sixth straight loss.LAPEENRANTA, Finland - Canadian head coach Kevin Dineen knew it would be a stiff challenge to get his team back on track after a crushing semifinal loss at the world under-18 hockey championship. His team rose to the occasion Sunday with a 3-1 victory over Sweden in the bronze-medal game. "The sting from yesterday is not something we hid from or pretend didnt happen," Dineen said. "We accepted it and moved on. I think we take satisfaction that we worked hard and that things worked out today." A day earlier, Canada erased a three-goal deficit before dropping a 4-3 overtime decision to the Czech Republic. The loss prevented the 2013 champions from returning to the gold-medal game. Determined to come home with a medal, the Canadians started off slowly Sunday before finding their form in the third-place game. Brendan Perlini, Lawson Crouse and Travis Konecny scored and goalie Mason McDonald made 38 saves. "We were not going to miss an opportunity to represent our country well," Dineen said. "The unity that this group has shown to come together in this short little timeframe, I think there was a lot of encouragement within our group and a lot of very quick chemistry that made yessterday very disappointing.dddddddddddd "But even so, I think we got great satisfaction from todays win." Swedens Henrik Tornqvist opened the scoring with a short-handed goal midway through the first period. Perlini answered with a power-play goal at the 17:02 mark. Crouse put Canada ahead at 11:57 of the second period and Konecny provided an insurance goal with less than five minutes to play in the third. "Weve spent five weeks together and weve done a lot of work," Dineen said. "Things didnt end the way we wanted to but on the flip side of that, that time could come down to the game today. They played extremely hard. "Theres one thing that we certainly wont fault them (for) — we had great effort throughout this whole tournament." Linus Soderstrom made 23 saves as Sweden settled for a fourth-place finish. "There was no guarantee how it was going to end," Dineen said. "But in saying that, I think we all walk out of here — and I hope the boys do as well — (feeling) that theyre a little wiser about the game and a little better for the experience." The United States won gold later in the day with a 5-2 victory over the Czechs. ' ' '