First period
- The second line makes one of its now famous rushes up the ice, and Ivan Demidov slides the puck through a defender to Oliver Kapanen, but Darcy Keumper just gets his stick on the puck before Kapanen can complete the move to his backhand and tuck in a goal.
- Nick Suzuki launches a hard shot from the slot that goes off Keumper’s stick shaft just above his blocker.
- Quinton Byfield beats Samuel Montembeault, but not the post.
- Demidov gets a shot from close range as he’s the only player low in the zone after a Kings turnover. Another big save from Kuemper.
- Four shots and just as many scoring chances in the opening five minutes for Montreal.
- Jayden Struble tries to set up a tap-in at the side of the net for Cole Caufield, but Caufield is hooked by Brandt Clarke. Not a bad decision to take a penalty instead of allowing a goal, but we’ll see if that matters.
- Joel Armia gets a loud ovation as he’s introduced to the Bell Centre crowd following the first commercial break.
- Lane Hutson fakes the drop-pass and then just burns down the wall and races to the net. He ends up getting tripped by Kuemper (the refs called Cody Ceci) at the side of the net before he can complete the play, and it’s a five-on-three-for 1:08.
- The power play sees Noah Dobson come out in Juraj Slafkovský’s place. It gets a lot of dangerous looks, but the shots were all just a little bit off.
- One of the refs was worried that it might look like they’re favouring the Canadiens with the back-to-back calls, so Kirby Dach is called for “tripping” after he hit his man into the boards.
- The puck got to the net once, but it was strong kill by Montreal.
- Dach is going right back to the box for “high-sticking” after the puck bounced off the glass and hit Byfield’s jaw.
- Another puck of Montembeault’s post.
- Montreal has eight shots on a target, but without looking I’d say they probably have twice as many attempts.
- The fourth line had a good start to this game, and both Jake Evans and Josh Anderson did well on the penalty kills, and now they have their reward. Hutson joins them on a three-and-two and relays the puck between them, and a slapshot from Anderson goes top corner for the opening goal at 19:17. Hutson knocked the puck back in the net just in case it hadn’t completely crossed the goal line, but he will get a primary point off the assist.
Lane Hutson tees up Josh Anderson, and Anderson goes bardown far corner 1-0 Habs!
— Scott Matla (@scottmatla.bsky.social) November 11, 2025 at 8:49 PM
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- The Kings got better as that period went on, thanks in large part to earning some momentum on two power plays, and were able to get the puck to the top of the crease several times for quality chances, but Montreal has the advantage on the scoreboard.
Second period
- Joel Edmundson fires a shot from the blue line, and Montembeault didn’t pick up where the puck was launched from. The game is tied.
- Montreal is having a difficult time getting the puck out of its zone in the opening couple of minutes. Everyone’s a little too casual with their puck touches.
- Zachary Bolduc was going to go to the box after chasing his man around the zone before tripping him up. After about another minute of possession for L.A., Byfield scores on the six-on-five advantage.
- Montembeault tries to play the play the puck as it slides across in front of him, but all he does is puck it a few few right to the stick of Kevin Fiala for an easy goal to make it 3-1.
- Demidov gets cross-checked down in a rare moment of offensive-zone pressure for Montreal.
- Newhook knocks his man down later in the shift, but that’s a penalty.
- Suzuki outraces his man while short-handed and gets the puck over to a charging Dobson, but Dobson’s shot goes wide.
- Montreal was the better team on that Kings power play. Will that turn this game around?
- Now the Kings get caught playing the puck before their line change was complete, so Montreal will get a power play now.
- Too many passes for the top unit again, especially attempts to go across the zone through two defenders.
- Now Montreal is holding the possession at five-on-five, keeping the Kings on their heels.
- The Kings just aren’t leaving the passing lanes open that Montreal has feasted on so far, especially now that they’re up a couple of goals. Often the only offensive play is a shot from distance with no traffic.
- Caufield gets interfered with by Kuemper as he tries to get to a loose puck and then tripped in the corner when he tried to play it. All good in the referee’s book.
- It might be too late to have the needed effect in this game, but it’s good that Montreal recognized the issues that led to their bad start in this period and corrected them. They used to go the full 60 minutes versus teams with solid structure in the past few years without being able to adjust. This will help them throughout the season.
Third period
- Now to see what Montreal can do versus a Kings team only trying to clamp down the attack.
- Caufield breaks through the line and fires a shot in the opposite direction he’s heading. Kuemper just gets his toe on the puck.
- The third line spends a full shift in the offensive zone, but can’t get much out of it.
- Kapanen gets tripped up after the Kings turn over the puck to give Montreal a two-on-two. Nothing wrong with that.
- Hutson beats Joel Armia in a race for a puck drifting back toward his own zone, but Armia wins the puck with a well-timed stick-check, and completed the play by scoring the 4-1 goal. That will do it for this game.
- The Kings add a fifth goal into the empty net with 4:28 to play.
- This game will finish 5-1. So much for my theory that the Canadiens would finally be able to solve this team.
EOTP 3 Stars
3) Good that they limited themselves to just a couple
2) The game probably plays out differently at 2-1 after 40 minutes
1) Seventy-seven years is quite a commitment
