(Los Angeles) The Canadian arrived in Los Angeles on this splendid Saturday afternoon, and he found himself facing the team he would like to become.
“They have a good team, probably the best in the league at the moment,” summed up Brendan Gallagher once it was all over. They are in tune with their game system, and they have a lot of talent… You have to see how difficult it is to face them. This is what we aspire to become, too. »
It’s good to aim high, but after about 30 minutes of play Saturday, it was pretty clear that the Canadian is light years behind these Kings, who secured their fifth straight victory with this clear-cut 4- 0, against a frankly overwhelmed Canadian.
To begin with, the Canadian shot only once in the first period, and to finish, while Pheonix Copley returned for a little lap of glory on the ice, we wondered what the Kings goaltender could have done to deserve this first star. Of the Canadian’s 18 shots, how many were truly dangerous? You can probably count that on the fingers of one hand.
“We knew what to expect,” explained Nick Suzuki, one of the few to get a quality scoring chance on Saturday. But we didn’t succeed in the games we talked about doing. They come in with their 1-3-1 system, and to counter that, you have to be on point. We weren’t. They put so much pressure on us that we all have to know what to do; as soon as a guy finds himself out of position, they take advantage. We had a good game plan, we didn’t execute it. »
The informed observer will have noticed that the Canadiens players seemed just as disoriented against the Kings last season at the Bell Centre, and one would have thought that this time, the club would have been better equipped to deal with this system of play, but no, that didn’t happen.
It will also be difficult to try to copy what these Kings did. This is obviously a club already crowned champion (twice, in 2012 and 2014), which has retained some pieces of this glorious era, including the indestructible Anze Kopitar, 36, who has 10 goals this season.
Since their last crown, the Kings have missed the playoffs five times, but they have hit home runs at the draft table, among others with Adrian Kempe and Quinton Byfield, while making some excellent decisions along the way, including acquisition of a certain Phillip Danault, who would also be rather useful to the Canadian these days.
In short, it is not such an easy model to imitate.
Allen was back in front of the Canadian goal, following him in what looks like a predetermined rotation in front of the Montreal net, a bit like a rotation of pitchers in baseball. Samuel Montembeault, who perhaps played his best game as a member of the Canadiens last Wednesday in Anaheim, will at least have to wait until next Wednesday before being able to get another start.
Allen, by the way, didn’t look very good against the Kings, and one wonders if that won’t dampen the enthusiasm of the Edmonton Oilers for him a little, who had once again sent a scout.
But the Canadian goalkeeper was not the only one to look bad.
“The Kings forced us to play in a way we don’t want to,” added defenseman Mike Matheson. Their game system, you don’t see that often…”
We don’t see this level of excellence that often either. Will the Canadian be able to achieve it one day? Saturday, in any case, that day seemed a long way away.