LOS ANGELES - Jeff Carter scored twice in the third period to get his 300th career goal after Drew Doughty and Anze Kopitar scored less than 2 minutes apart in the second period to lift the Los Angeles Kings over the Vancouver Canucks 5-1 on Monday night.

Carter and Vincent Lecavalier scored 39 seconds apart midway through the third, and then Carter added an empty-netter for his 300th. Jonathan Quick made 21 saves to help the Kings climb within a point of Pacific Division-leading Anaheim, which lost 2-1 to Washington in a shootout.

The Kings led the Ducks by 16 points on Jan. 20 but fell out of first place with a 3-2 loss to the Ducks on Saturday.

Defenseman Dan Hamhuis scored for Vancouver and Ryan Miller stopped 24 shots.

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Jacob Markstrom stole James Reimer's thunder.

Reimer, acquired by San Jose from the Toronto Maple Leafs before the trade deadline, made his Sharks debut on Saturday night, but it didn't go very well. Reimer allowed three goals on 25 shots, as the Vancouver Canucks earned a 4-2 win.

Markstom was stellar. He stopped 32 of 34 shots, including a couple of 10-bell saves in the third period.

Reimer didn't get much help from his new teammates, who were on a parade to the penalty box. All three goals Reimer allowed came with Vancouver on the power play. The result was disappointing, considering it was Reimer's first start in March, with his new team, after a nightmare February. And the Sharks' penalty kill, already below 80 percent heading into Saturday's game, remains a major concern.

Last month, Reimer had a .869 save percentage in eight games and seven starts, and an unseemly 3.80 goals-against average. March has begun with similar numbers.

It was the Canucks' fifth straight win in San Jose and ninth in 12 games, according to CSN's Kevin Kurz.

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The Vancouver Canucks have lost Henrik Sedin to injury, at least for the duration of Saturday's game in San Jose.

The captain suffered an upper-body injury in the first period and was deemed unable to return, the club announced.

The injury is believed to have occurred on a first-period hit delivered by Brent Burns.

Sedin saw only 3:36 of ice time in the game, recording one shot on goal.

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Willie Desjardins' job is safe for now.

The head coach isn't going anywhere, according to Vancouver Canucks president of hockey operations Trevor Linden, who said as much to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman.

"Earlier this week, I had a chance to speak to Trevor Linden and one of the things he said was, 'End any speculation about Willie Desjardins' future. There's no doubt he will be back as head coach of the Canucks'," Friedman said during Saturday's edition of "Headlines."

Desjardins is 24-27-12 in his second season behind the Canucks' bench, with Vancouver entering Saturday's action 12 points out of a playoff spot.

The Canucks went 48-29-5 in his first NHL campaign last season before being eliminated in six games by the Calgary Flames in the first round of the playoffs.

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Rather than waiting on the question, Trevor Linden prefaced his discourse Thursday at the Vancouver Canucks' ill-timed Town Hall, reiterating that the decisions made by Jim Benning and his staff are not being influenced by higher-ups.

"We had complete autonomy from ownership to make the decisions we needed to make," Linden said, via the team's official Twitter account.

They delved further into the topic of failing to yield a return for pending unrestricted free agents still on the Canucks' roster. Benning claimed defenseman Dan Hamhuis had just one team he would be willing to waive his no-movement clause to join, and they didn't receive a single offer on former 30-goal man Radim Vrbata.

Of course, effort isn't enough to appease the club's frustrated fan base or media members who spin the narrative in Vancouver and have suspected - or continue to suspect - that owner Francesco Aquilini is preventing hockey operations from committing to a firm direction.

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