First period
- The start of this game will probably tell us a lot about how the day will go.
- There are fewer people in the arena to watch the Kings than there were yesterday in San Jose to watch the Sharks. You can really hear the puck hitting sticks and the boards today.
- Another odd-man rush with a defenceman. This time it’s Gustav Lindström, who just misses the net.
- The Canadiens look a lot more positionally sound in this one so far, which they had to be.
- Soon after I typed that, Alex Laferriere walked around Johnny Kovacevic to get a point-blank chance, which Allen stopped.
- No first-shot goal against in this one!
- You can see the difference between the Habs and Kings in terms of defensive structure, however. The Kings stay in proper defending positions while there is a battle for the puck along the boards, while the Canadiens defensive approach is more reactionary.
- Alex Newhook just misses a tap-in from the slot. No shots for Montreal yet, but two quality scoring chances.
- A good shift for Christian Dvorak’s line, but they still haven’t tested Pheonix Copley.
- Gustav Lindstrom makes a poke at the puck after losing possession, and Anze Kopitar turns into his stick to grab it and draw a call. That has happened a couple of times on this trip. Maybe the Canadiens players need to be better actors.
- Jesse Ylönen is back on the penalty kill, and his active stick at the point results in a panicked pass and exit for the Kings.
- On the back end, the defencemen allow a cross-crease pass, which Quinton Byfield clangs off the post.
- Kovacevic informs Jayden Struble he needs to change, so the fresh call-up takes over the breakout from behind the net.
- The most telegraphed shot you could possible get from beyond the circle from Carl Grundstrom beats Jake Allen far-side.
- He spills a rebound on the next shot after it him in the shoulder, but he pounced on the puck to prevent an immediate second goal.
- The Canadiens did well to hold L.A. to eight shots, and the 8-1 shot margin is only a reflection of the defensive structure of both teams rather than a major edge in play for the Kings, who had just a couple of dangerous looks. The Canadiens need to attack the blue line with more bodies to break that formation.
Second period
- Montreal gets its second shot through traffic a minute into the middle frame.
- Now a three-on-one, but Kevin Fiala defends it well and deflects a pass harmlessly to his goaltender.
- Montreal goes to its first power play. Here’s hoping they looked at the video of what the Sharks did yesterday.
- Sean Monahan gets a pass across right in front of the toes of Copley, but it’s actually too close to the goal line for Suzuki to fire in from a sharp angle.
- Los Angeles is actually having to skate to catch up to the Habs on some of their rushes, which they didn’t in the first.
- Juraj Slafkovský takes an extra half second to make a pass to the opposite wing, and Cole Caufield fires a low shot off Copley’s pad.
- Unhappy with the finish, Slafkovský knocks his teammate to the ice.
- The Kings are getting another power play after Nick Suzuki tapped an onrushing attacker in the gloves.
- Suzuki comes out of the box, plays the puck into L.A.’s zone, and then gets squeezed along the boards. That is allowed by the officials.
- The Kings think they’ve put the puck in the net, but there’s a discussion about whether they did or not.
- After review, Mike Matheson had put his stick in the perfect position to direct the wraparound chance into his own net.
- It’s going to be tough to come back from two goals down against a team that only allows two-and-a-half goals per game.
- Dvorak has a chance to get that goal right back, but can’t get the puck out of his feet.
- Newhook gets a pass three feet from the net, but can’t convert.
- Tanner Pearson sends a shot wide from close range after the commercial break. Two missed chances in about six seconds of game time.
- Matheson sends the puck to the crease. It misses deflecting in off Anderson’s stick by about a centimetre.
- The fourth line gets a rare shift and draws a penalty. If Montreal is going to win this game, they probably need a goal here.
- The first wave plays keepaway from itself.
- The best shot is a setup from Brendan Gallagher to Slafkovský, but it doesn’t connect.
- Shots would be tied if a third of these slot passes were received, and the Canadiens probably have a lead.
- There should be another penalty because the Kings fired the puck out of play at the opposite end of the rink from their own blue line, but the refs allow it. Maybe it’s for the best that it wasn’t called, because Montreal has been a lot better at five-on-five.
Third period
- Two quick shots from L.A. to begin the period. It seems they want to put this one to bed quickly.
- Newhook had three teammates looking to accept a pass, but he put a backhander right on the stick of a Kings player that started a three-on-two.
- Very nice play from Slafkovský to lean on his check and sweep the puck deeper into the zone with one hand. It doesn’t result in anything, but it did help maintain possession for a bit longer.
- Jaret Anderson-Dolan picks off a Kovacevic pass and sends a pass to Trevor Lewis. Lewis miraculously makes a pass reception in a dangerous area, and sends the puck five-hole on Allen. That’s likely going to do it for this one.
- Just to make sure, they nearly add a fourth moments later, but Grundstrom sends a rebound behind Allen and out the other side of the crease.
- Allen makes a glove save to at least deny Phillip Danault from scoring on his former team, but it’s a relentless attack now. I think they’re starting to see the benefits of their distributed ice time yesterday.
- Jake Evans is hooked on three different occasions trying to move the puck up the ice. None of them are called.
- Trevor Moore flicks the puck at the net from just above the goal line and it goes off Allen’s glove and in.
- Just to add to our suffering, the ref gives Montreal a power play for an L.A. faceoff violation.
- One last miss of a point-blank chance before the power play comes to close.
- Montreal now has three days off to figure out both the power play and their defensive coverage.
EOTP 3 Stars
3) Might have to repatriate Morgan Ellis to complete the quadfecta
2) They’ve now been outscored 14-4 in that situation
1) I read this as the power play itself crying out for help
