Los Angeles @ Montreal preview
Bell Centre
Last Meeting ( Nov 25, 2023 ) Montreal 0, Los Angeles 4
The Los Angeles Kings look to make their mark in the NHL record book on Thursday when they continue their four-game road trip with a meeting with the Montreal Canadiens.
Los Angeles opened its trek by becoming the first team this season to overcome a three-goal deficit in the third period of a 4-3 overtime win vs. the Columbus Blue Jackets. Tuesday's victory improved the Kings to 10-0-0 away from home, matching the 2006-07 Buffalo Sabres for the longest season-opening road winning streak in NHL history.
"It's huge," Los Angeles defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov said of his team's good fortune. "Winning is always fun, especially right now. That kind of hot streak, we've got to keep going."
Defenseman Drew Doughty scored 33 seconds into overtime to fuel the Kings to their seventh win in their past eight games overall.
"Our team feels good about itself," Los Angeles coach Todd McLellan said. "We have confidence, but with confidence comes responsibility and we didn't have a lot of it early in the game."
That appeared to be true when the Kings were faced with a 3-0 deficit. Former Canadien Phillip Danault altered the momentum of the game by scoring twice for Los Angeles, and Arthur Kaliyev tallied to forge a tie at 6:38 of the third period.
"We definitely woke up in the third period, that one was better, and just took charge," Danault said. "We started to be more direct and scored some goals."
Gavrikov notched two assists vs. his former team. Trevor Moore and captain Anze Kopitar each added one assist to extend their road point streaks to 10 games. Moore has seven goals and eight assists in that stretch, while Kopitar has six and six, respectively.
Pheonix Copley, who made 26 saves on Tuesday, turned aside all 18 shots he faced in Los Angeles' 4-0 win over Montreal on Nov. 25. He is 3-0-0 with a 2.39 goals-against average and .904 save percentage in four career appearances vs. the Canadiens.
Montreal is looking to conclude its four-game homestand on a high note. The Canadiens allowed five goals in each of their two consecutive losses before posting a 4-2 victory over the Seattle Kraken on Monday.
Sean Monahan scored twice vs. the Kraken, marking the first time that he found the back of the net since Montreal's 3-2 loss to the Arizona Coyotes on Nov. 2. Monahan still leads the Canadiens in goals with eight.
"We wanted to make it hard to play in our rink, and I think (on Monday) we did that," Monahan said. "And we started off that way, and when you do that sometimes, you can kill the other team as well."
Monahan wasn't the only member of the team to end a pronounced scoring slump. Former King Tanner Pearson tallied for the first time since Oct. 23, and Josh Anderson found the empty net to account for his first goal in 25 games this season.
Captain Nick Suzuki leads the team in both assists (14) and points (21). He has three and four, respectively, over his past four games.
--Field Level Media