(Los Angeles) The Canadian hit a wall against a well-oiled machine on Saturday afternoon as he finished his trip to California against the best of the three teams from the Golden State.
Trevor Moore scored two goals, Pheonix Copley stopped 18 shots and the Los Angeles Kings defeated the Montreal hockey club 4-0 on Saturday afternoon at Crypto.com Arena.
The Habs began their trip to California by defeating the Anaheim Ducks and the San Jose Sharks. A victory against the Kings would have allowed them to sweep their opponents on this trip for the first time since the 1999-2000 season. He nevertheless compiled a winning record for the first time since the 2009-10 campaign.
Canadian head coach Martin St-Louis gave credit to the Kings, who won a fifth game in a row. However, he insisted that his team had not played a bad match.
“This is a team that will force you to really earn every chance you get,” St-Louis said. We gave them a bit of trouble in the second half and it would have been nice to score. We continued to work, but the third goal changed things. »
Only the trio of Nick Suzuki, Alex Newhook and Brendan Gallagher generated a few scoring chances at even strength. Otherwise, the Kings spent little time in their zone.
Jake Allen made 26 saves in front of the Canadian net (9-10-2), who was shut out for the first time this season.
“It was frustrating in the sense that we didn’t have time and space with the puck,” Gallagher said. When you get an opening, there is always another player coming to cover you. The match was difficult, but we faced a very good team. »
The Canadian is 0-for-17 on the power play in his last six games. He was 0-for-3 against the Kings.
Carl Grundstrom and Trevor Lewis also scored for the Kings (13-3-3). Pierre-Luc Dubois collected two assists.
The Canadian will end his trip with a stop in Columbus on Wednesday to face the Blue Jackets. He will be back at the Bell Center on Thursday, when the Florida Panthers are the visitors.
Grundstrom opened the scoring at 15:28 of the first period. He beat Allen with a powerful one-timer from the faceoff circle to the goalie’s left.
Moments earlier, Quinton Byfield had cut through the air after a beautiful cross-ice pass from Kevin Fiala during a Kings power play.
The Canadian’s best chance during the first twenty belonged to Newhook. However, he missed the target.
The Canadian was credited with only one shot on goal during the first period, the result of a long clearance by Mike Matheson during a numerical penalty.
“Obviously we didn’t really have any shots, but I wasn’t mad because we didn’t give them a lot of chances,” St-Louis said of the first period. We adjusted and executed our plan better in the second half. »
The Habs had a 10-7 advantage in shots on goal in the second period, but Copley was perfect in front of the Kings net.
Copley possibly made his best save during a Canadian power play. He stretched his right pad to frustrate Suzuki after a cross pass from Sean Monahan.
“It was a nice pass from Monahan and I hit his skate, then the post,” Suzuki said. I couldn’t get the puck over his pad. »
The Kings widened the gap at 9:55 of the second period. Moore beat Allen after going behind the visitors’ net.
Lewis dealt the Canadian a big blow by making the score 3-0 in favor of the Kings after 3:14 of play in the third period. He took advantage of a pass from Jaret Anderson-Dolan after a turnover by Johnathan Kovacevic and surprised Allen, who did not seem ready on the sequence.
The Kings continued to increase their attacks towards the Canadian’s net and Allen tried to get out of it as best as possible. However, he looked bad on a shot from Moore, who threaded the needle with 6:32 left in the game.
