Fresh off a win over the San Jose Sharks, the Montreal Canadiens must turn the page and prepare for a battle with the Los Angeles Kings, a team in a much better position than their California neighbor.
It will be the second game between the two teams this season. The Kings visited the Habs in the early stage of the season signing a 4-1 win on October, 17. A duel in which the Canadiens’ power play was dreadful, failing to score on its five man-advantage.
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Since Montreal played on Tuesday night, you can expect Jakub Dobes to be between the pipes tonight. The rookie netminder has yet to face the Kings and doesn’t have a record against them, but so far this season, he’s got good numbers. He’s 5-1-1 in seven games and has a 2.10 goals-against average and a .927 save percentage.
There’s no word yet on who will man the net for the Kings. In October, David Rittich was between the pipes and only surrendered a goal. He’s got a 2-3-1 record against the Habs with a 2.47 GAA and a .925 SP. As for Darcy Kuemper, he’s 5-3-1 against Montreal with a 2.65 GAA and a .900 SP.
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Up front, Christian Dvorak is the Canadiens’ best scorer against the Kings with 14 points in 29 games, followed by Patrik Laine with 10 points in 15 matches and rounding up the top three is David Savard with nine points in 21 games. As for captain Nick Suzuki, he only has two points in eight games against the Kings, perhaps taking on Anze Kopitar is a tough task.
For the Kings, Kopitar has the best record with 23 points in 25 games, Andrian Kempe comes in at second with 12 points in 12 games with Kevin Fiala rounding up the top three with 11 points in 16 games. Former Hab Philip Danault has got a pair of points in nine games, a record eerily similar to Suzuki’s one.
The Canadiens are 93-40-20-2 against Los Angeles, but the Kings have won eight of the last 10 games between the two sides, including the last seven tilts. The last time Montreal got the upper hand was all the way back in 2019.
After the game, the Canadiens will head home for their last two games before the Four Nations’ Face-Off break, a pair of matinees against the New Jersey Devils and the Tampa Bay Lightning. Then, it will be showtime for Montembeault, Laine and Joel Armia while the other Canadiens will get a break.
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