The Canadiens lose a tough game to the Kings

On the Kings’ side, there were four players who were with the Habs during its playoff run in the summer of 2021: Phillip Danault, Joel Edmundson, Joel Armia and Corey Perry.

Here’s the visitors’ line-up:

During the first period, the Habs celebrated Armia’s return to the Bell Centre.

He played 406 games in seven seasons with the Habs.

In terms of goals, the first period was very quiet… until the very last minute.

Josh Anderson unleashed a cannonball from the slot to open the scoring.

After 20 minutes, the score was 1-0 in favour of the Canadiens.

In the second half, however, things went from bad to worse for Montreal. The club didn’t get off to a great start, and Joel Edmundson took advantage.

He scored his first goal of the season.

And in the minutes that followed, it didn’t get any better… and the Kings kept the pedal to the floor to add two goals in 65 seconds.

Samuel Montembeault, who had just had a solid first period, snatched one away.

Martin St-Louis stirred his soup late in the period, and we even saw Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Ivan Demidov, Lane Hutson and Noah Dobson used at the same time at 5-on-5.

They were sent to the ice on a sequence in the offensive zone… before returning to their usual positions.

After 40 minutes, the score was 3-1 in favour of the Kings.

In the third period, the Kings continued to muzzle the Habs… and Joel Armia also found a way to score against his former club.

He played a trick on Lane Hutson.

Martin St-Louis tried to create a late spark by sending Demidov back to the top line, but to no avail. Warren Foegele completed the scoring in an empty net.

The Habs thus lost in regulation time for the first time since October 23… but also suffered their third defeat in four games.

Final score: 5-1 Los Angeles

The Canadiens will be back in action on Thursday night, when the Dallas Stars come to town.

Extension

– It really wasn’t an easy game for the Canadiens tonight. Everything seemed tedious on the ice… and we finally saw that the club won’t find a way to pull a rabbit out of its hat every night. Let’s hope this doesn’t become a trend… and that the club adapts accordingly. #ShootMoreOften

– Lane Hutson played his 100th NHL game tonight. And for the occasion, he got his 75th career assist. Not a bad kid.

– With the Team Canada executives at the Bell Centre tonight, it was Josh Anderson who was the Habs’ best player. Maybe he wanted to prove that he deserves to be on the team, especially if it’s to take Tom Wilson’s place, hehe.

– As the Habs took advantage of a 5-on-3 in the first period, Noah Dobson took Juraj Slafkovský’s place on the powerplay. The composition of the massive forward is therefore different depending on the number of opposing players on the ice.

– The Canadiens have now lost their last nine games against the Kings. Marc Bergevin obviously has his old club’s number.