In his last four starts, Carey Price has faced 161 shots. Despite this bombardment, Price only allowed 7 goals, and is still without a loss on the season.
With three games over the next four days (tonight vs. Los Angeles, Saturday vs. Detroit and Sunday @ Chicago), the Habs are aware of the danger of things going sour quickly despite having a near perfect record of 11-1-1 to begin the season. Michel Therrien has addressed this, stating that while it’s a cause for concern the Habs have been outshot 161-91 over the past four games, that he isn’t worried.
In addition to being outplayed and outshot heavily over the last four games, the Canadiens have allowed seven powerplay goals (including four in the 10-0 loss to the Blue Jackets). These are signs of trouble, but nothing to worry about (yet) according to the coaching staff who seem confident they can make the right adjustments to continue winning games and getting timely goals from unlikely heroes such as Paul Byron who scored the winning goal with just over a minute to play against the Bruins on Tuesday.
The Kings are coming off a 7-0 lashing of the Toronto Maple Leafs and a 5-0 beatdown of the Calgary Flames. Peter Budaj will start again for the Kings tonight after posting two shutouts in a row (7-3, 1.86 GAA, .919 sv%).
Habs (11-1-1)
Who’s hot: Alex Galchenyuk (6GP, 4G, 4A), Alex Radulov (5GP, 1G, 5A), Carey Price (8GP, 8W, 1.63 GAA, .953 sv%,)
Who’s not: Andrew Shaw (5GP, 0G, 1A), Max Pacioretty (5GP, 0G, 1A)
Kings (7-6-0)
Who’s hot: Jeff Carter (3 GP, 3G, 1A), Dustin Brown (2GP, 1G, 2A)
Who’s not: Anze Kopitar (7GP, 0G, 2A), Drew Doughty (6GP, 0G, 2A)
Puck drop is 7:30 PM EDT / 4:30 PM PDT
How to watch:
Canada (English): Sporstnet
Canada (French): RDS
In Los Angeles: FSW
Traditionally, Michel Therrien doesn’t mess with a winning lineup, but even though the Canadiens won Tuesday, there will be a couple of adjustments made to tonight’s lineup that will see David Desharnais and Greg Pateryn out, with Sven Andrighetto and Joel Hanley replacing them.
Online: NHL.TV
| Left Wing |
Center |
Right Wing |
| Paul Byron | Alex Galchenyuk | Alex Radulov |
| Sven Andrighetto | Tomas Plekanec | Brendan Gallagher |
| Max Pacioretty | Phillip Danault | Andrew Shaw |
| Daniel Carr | Torrey Mitchell | Brian Flynn |
| Left Defense |
Right Defense |
| Alexei Emelin | Shea Weber |
| Andrei Markov | Jeff Petry |
| Nathan Beaulieu | Joel Hanley |
| Goaltenders |
| Carey Price |
| Al Montoya |
Scratched: David Desharnais, Greg Pateryn
Injured: Artturi Lehkonen (upper-body injury), Zach Redmond (foot)
| Left Wing |
Center |
Right Wing |
| Tanner Pearson | Anze Kopitar | Teddy Purcell |
| Dwight King | Jeff Carter | Tyler Toffoli |
| Dustin Brown | Nic Dowd | Devin Setoguchi |
| Kyle Clifford | Nick Shore | Trevor Lewis |
| Left Defense |
Right Defense |
| Derek Forbort | Drew Doughty |
| Jake Muzzin | Alec Martinez |
| Kevin Gravel | Matt Greene |
| Goaltenders |
| Peter Budaj |
| Jeff Zatkoff |
Scratched: Tom Gilbert, Jordan Nolan
Injured: Brayden McNabb (arm), Andy Andreoff (upper body), Jonathan Quick (lower body), Marian Gaborik (broken foot)
