First period
- The Canadiens are getting zone time, which is a good thing versus a team that often stymies them in the neutral zone. It will be important to get a lead however so the Kings can’t just slip into a defensive formation for the rest of the game.
- Kaiden Guhle whacks Alex Laferrière in the face with his stick and will sit for two minutes. If it hadn’t been Guhle, it would have been Mike Matheson for tripping as that pairing got beat once again on this trip.
- Jakub Dobeš makes some steady saves as the Kings work the puck around the zone much too easily.
- Shots are now 8-1 for the Kings after five on that power play.
- A shot from Noah Dobson, Matheson’s new defence partner, is blocked near the Kings blue line. Los Angeles turns it up ice, and Matheson knocks the puck off the stick of Artemiy Panarin only for it to land on Adrian Kempe’s. Kempe completes a cross-crease pass, and Anze Kopitar scores his seventh goal of the season.
- It’s the ninth goal of the 13 Montreal has allowed with Matheson on the ice.
- Guhle and Arber Xhekaj both get beat up ice and the Kings score again. This one is getting taken off the board because Dobeš was sat on to prevent him from making the save. But Los Angeles does get a power play out of it from a hook from Xhekaj as he was chasing the play.
- Montreal just looks slow tonight, and that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense with how many off days they’ve had recently.
- I can’t even call that a bad period for Montreal. They just looked plain stupid with their shot selections, failed passes, and misreads of the defensive plays. They got a shot four-and-a-half minutes in and didn’t have a single one after that.
Second period
- I’m not seeing much from the opening couple of minutes to suggest this period is going to be any better.
- It turns out they just needed a shot. Jake Evans double-clutches on a point shot and decides to fire through a screen, and it gets past Darcy Kuemper to tie the game.
Jake Evans gets the Habs on the board in LA!
— Scott Matla (@scottmatla.bsky.social) March 7, 2026 at 9:16 PM
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- The Kings used their challenge to check for goaltender interference as Kirby Dach bumped a player into Kuemper, but decide not to.
- Suddenly the Canadiens are playing with some pace, and the Kings can’t keep up with it.
- Nick Suzuki springs Josh Anderson, but Montreal fails to score on yet another breakaway this trip.
- A nice passing leaves Suzuki completely alone in the slot. Again, the Canadiens can’t score in the one-on-one situation as his shot goes off the post.
- Juraj Slafkovský shields the puck well to turn with it off the half-wall, pulls it around a stick-check in the high slot, and snaps it high under the crossbar to give Montreal the lead. An exceptional individual effort.
What a goal by Slafkovsky to give the Habs a 2-1 lead!
— Scott Matla (@scottmatla.bsky.social) March 7, 2026 at 9:40 PM
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- A spinning fire from the goal line by Scott Laughton goes off Dobeš’s foot and deflects in through his five-hole at a time when all the momentum was with the Canadiens.
- He makes up for it with a lunging foot save in the dying seconds and another one on the rebound.
- It’s just too bad they couldn’t have held that lead they worked so hard to claim. They went into the long-change second period trailing a defensive team, and outshot and outscored the Kings.
Third period
- A lot of zone time from the Kings to begin this period.
- Xhekaj turns the puck over to his own slot and sets up a two-on-zero for the Kings. Fortunately, the passing play doesn’t connect.
- With all the pressure from the Kings, it was only a matter of time until the scored. A rebound fell to the slot, and Suzuki couldn’t get to the stick of Laferrière before he banged it in.
- Another goal scored with Matheson on the ice, now 10 of 14 in California, although he had his player tied up on that goal.
- Hutson tries to single-handedly get his team into a tie with his play below the goal line, then a quick jam play at the post that leads to all five Kings players collapsing into their crease to hold it out.
- Dobson stick is knocked out of his hands, and Montreal will go to its first power play of the night with six minutes to go.
- It wasn’t as spectacular as his first one, the tying goal comes off a hard slapshot one-timer from Slafkovský for his second of the game.
LIVE SLAF LOVE
— Scott Matla (@scottmatla.bsky.social) March 7, 2026 at 10:37 PM
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- As they did in Anaheim, the Canadiens score in quick succession to take the lead in the third period. Slafkovský sets up a one-timer for Suzuki, and the captain pounds it in.
BoyGenius Line remains undefeated
— Scott Matla (@scottmatla.bsky.social) March 7, 2026 at 10:39 PM
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- Now to survive for the final 4:30.
- And now the dangerous 80 seconds of six-of-five.
- It’s a mad scramble. Danault misses the empty net with 8.4 seconds left on the clock.
- The horn sounds, and Montreal claims a big win over the Kings.
- It wasn’t Caufield tonight, but his two linemates who got it done on Saturday night. Dobeš allowed just three goals, and that’s all the Canadiens need from him for the rest of the season.
- The win moves Montreal ahead of the idle Detroit Red Wings, and matches the wins from the Buffalo Sabres and Tampa Bay Lightning who sit four points ahead.
- It wasn’t a great road trip, but at least they took three of six points and ended it with a win. Now they can rest, watch as much video of their defence as possible over the next two days, and then host the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday.
EOTP 3 Stars
3) Just needed the one
2) We are all this bush baby
1) Back to looking ahead rather than looking behind
