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Ten Takeaways from the Habs vs Kings game: Montreal ends their California trip as it began; with a loss.

1. Carey Price is close

Whether that “close” is the World Cup or the World Championships, or even a small fraction of the rest of the Canadiens‘ season, you have to think we’ll be seeing Price in games before 16-17 begins.

This is a good thing. You want to see him play. You want to see him get back in the groove of things. You want him to get comfortable and really test the knee (or whatever it is) and see if it can hold up actual games. Price coming into 16-17 cold would be the absolute worst case scenario. Well, the absolute worst case scenario would be Price never playing again. Thankfully that isn’t the case.

2. Mike Brown playing in favour of Sven Andrighetto is confusing.

I thought they were letting the kids play?

He moved Torrey Mitchell to the wing in favour of youth. Torrey Mitchell! That’s a big deal!

If Therrien is willing to move a veteran centre to the wing to showcase his youth’s talent then why is Andrighetto out?

Therrien doesn’t seem to be a fan of the Swissile (Swiss Missile). He sent him down for no reason earlier in the year, and now has scratched him in favour of a grizzled, bruising vet. Maybe this is just a one-off, message-sending scratch to get more out of Andrighetto, but if this is an extended practice then I don’t know what’s going on. Multiple messages being sent.

Brown was just being a pest in a bad way all night. I don’t want to watch that.

3. Weird start.

Pacioretty lost his skate blade on a missed check, and it led to shenanigans.

The Habs were shorthanded without actually being shorthanded, and it resulted in a Kings goal.

That can be confusing for a defending team. A moment of panic/confusion while they figure out what’s going on can easily be taken advantage of and that’s what the Kings did. The Habs were defending as if it was a penalty but they didn’t realize it until the puck got back up to the point. Before they could properly organize, the puck was in the net. Anze Kopitar left untouched in front to tip in an Alex Martinez blast. That goal led to a full on onslaught from Los Angeles. It was 2-0 before the Habs had their first shot.

4. Ben Scrivens didn’t help ’em.

The goals aside, he looked uncomfortable. Every save looked like an extreme effort. Fans of the tank will be happy about it but this is not something to be happy about. Scrivens has been all over the place since he debuted. His erratic and reactionary style makes for some intense and heart-pounding moments. When he was winning earlier in the season, it was like the stars aligned for him as he was making desperation save after desperation save. He settled down, but boy was he struggling.

5. They weren’t as bad as the shot count suggested.

You sensed that the lead wouldn’t hold up. The Kings got sloppy as they got comfortable. As I watched I felt that the Habs were an inch away from capitalizing on a chance, that they were just on the cusp of getting into the game. I was right.

The Habs were slowly clawing their way back and you could tell that something was up.

PK Subban isn’t missing that shot on most nights.

6. Therrien’s blender was active.

I don’t get it. I really don’t. If you want to give the kids a chance to show their stuff then give them more than a game to do so.

Mike McCarron was demoted to the 4th line.

Lars Eller moved back to centre with Alex Galcheyuk and Brendan Gallagher. (EGG LINE!)

It lasted for less than a period as McCarron was moved to centre Gallagher and Galchenyuk.

That lasted for less than a period as he was moved back to the 4th line.

That should help with his development.

Try anything and everything I guess.

7. Alexei Emelin impressed me.

I said that I didn’t think he could carry a pairing but he’s proving me wrong as the games tick away.He actually had the highest Shot Attempts For total at even strength last night with 14.

There was one play in the second period where the Kings were on a clean 2-on-1, and Emelin was skating forward to try and break it up, he didn’t have full position on either forward.

What he did kind of blew me away.

He skated to the puck carrier to force him closer to the boards then skated to the passer to break up the play, it was in one stride. It worked, too. Emelin broke up the shot attempt and the play was nullified.

8. People will blame Subban for the Kings’ third goal, but Scrivens is also to blame.

The dagger that cemented the W for the Kings was on Ben Scrivens as much as, if not more than, it was on Subban.

Subban turned the puck over but Dwight King MURDERED Scrivens. I have never seen a goalie bite on a fake shot the way Scrivens bit on King’s fake. It was comical. Scrivens opened up wider than Gallagher’s smile, and the puck was slid in with ease.

9. They were opportunistic but not opportunistic enough.

Two goals on 15 shots. Logic says an easy cure would be to shoot more. They couldn’t. The Kings totally shut them down. The Habs capitalized off their chances but they simply didn’t get enough of them. LA had a 30-15 shot advantage with four minutes left in the game.

10. Three games in four nights…twice.

Monday-Wednesday-Thursday-Saturday. That’s a hell of a week..against tough opponents too. The Canadiens are in tough against good teams like we saw last night, especially with the youth. We’ll see what they can show us on Saturday.

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