The Montreal Canadiens will take on the Los Angeles Kings tonight, and they'll aim to avoid going back to Montreal winless on the three-game road trip. That won't be easy since LA has won the last nine games between the two sides.
The Montreal Canadiens will wrap up their West Coast trip tonight when they take on the Los Angeles Kings, and needless to say, after two losses, they really need to get the two points. As things stand, the Habs are in the first wild card spot in the Eastern Conference, but they have games in hand on both the Detroit Red Wings and the Buffalo Sabres. The former are just one point ahead of the Habs, while the latter have a four-point lead on the Tricolore, who only has one game in hand. It’s also worth noting that both teams have more regulation wins than the Habs (Montreal has 22, Detroit has 24, and Buffalo has 31), so if they are tied in points at the end of the season, the Canadiens won’t have the tiebreaker.
While tonight’s hosts are outside of the playoff picture, looking in, and they’ve only got a 3-6-1 record in their last 10 games, the Canadiens shouldn’t take them lightly. The Kings have won the last nine games between the two sides, including a 5-1 win in November. In the last 10 duels, LA has outscored Montreal 40-16, which doesn’t bode well for a Habs team that’s struggling to get good goaltending. The Habs’ last win over the Kings dates back to November 2019, when the Canadiens had won both the home and away games.
Neither team has confirmed who their starter will be tonight, but since Samuel Montembeault was in net for the Canadiens’ loss to the San Jose Sharks last night, it’s safe to assume that Jakub Dobes will be on duty. The Czech netminder has lost his only game against the Kings and has a 5.03 goals-against average and a .861 save percentage when facing them. Meanwhile, Montembeault, who was in net for the 5-1 defeat in November, has a 2-3-0 record with a 3.55 GAA and a .887 SV.
Darcy Kuemper was in the net for the Kings’ last game, but he could still be called upon tonight since he has seen the lion’s share of the work in LA this season, and the Kings were off yesterday. Kuemper has a 7-3-1 record against the Habs with a 2.55 GAA and a .901 SV. Meanwhile, backup Anton Forsberg is 6-0-0 against them with a 2.62 GAA, a .924 SV, and a shutout. Whoever D.J. Smith chooses, the Canadiens will have a tall task ahead of them.
While the Canadiens didn’t make any moves in the run-up to the deadline, the Kings added depth forward Scott Laughton from the Toronto Maple Leafs and sent veteran Corey Perry to the Tampa Bay Lightning for a second-round pick on top of sending Warren Foegele to the Ottawa Senators for a couple of picks. Their biggest move came just before the Olympic break, however, as they added winger Artemi Panarin from the New York Rangers in return for Liam Greentree and a third-round pick. However, they lost Kevin Fiala for the rest of the season when he suffered a freak injury while playing for Switzerland in the Olympic Tournament. Andrei Kuzmenko is also out with an injury, while Joel Armia and Quinton Byfield are both considered day-to-day.
Up front, Panarin is the Kings' most productive player against the Sainte-Flanelle with 34 points in 25 games, followed by captain Anze Kopitar with 25 points in 27 games. Adrian Kempe wraps up the top three with 13 points in 14 games.
Meanwhile, Patrik Laine is the only Canadiens’ player to have reached double digits against the Kings with 10 points in 16 games, but he still hasn’t been activated, and it doesn’t look like the Canadiens’ failure to trade him will lead to a return to the lineup. Josh Anderson comes in second place with seven points in 14 games, followed by Mike Matheson and Alex Newhook, who both have five points in 14 games. This will be Philip Danault’s first game against his former team since being traded back to Montreal in December. The center has three points in eight games against LA.
The Canadiens will not hold a morning skate or pregame media availability, so any lineup changes will only be announced at game time. It will be interesting to see if Arber Xhekaj gets a second game in a row after seeing 11:06 of action in San Jose. Given yesterday’s results, chances are Martin St-Louis will stick with the same lines up front.
The game is set for 7:00 PM ET, and you can catch it on FDSNW, KCAL, SNE, CITY, and TVA Sports. Tom Chmielewski and Trevor Hanson are set to officiate, while Andrew Smith and Travis Gawryletz will be the linemen.
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