The Montreal Canadiens struck out in California this week as they went 0-3 as they lost their final game there 3-2 to the Los Angeles Kings. Initially it appeared that it would be a long night for the Canadiens, and even longer for the fans staying up late to watch the game back east. Within the first minute of the game Max Pacioretty literally lost the blade of his skate, essentially giving the Kings a man advantage as he attempted to make his way to the bench with the help of the referee.
Pacioretty lost a skate blade pic.twitter.com/ngaey9Xi9K
— Stephanie (@myregularface) March 4, 2016
The Kings were quick to take advantage of the confusion on the ice as Anze Kopitar beat Ben Scrivens for the first goal of the game. It continued to go from bad to worse for the Canadiens as they were unable to get into the flow of the game, giving up back to back icings which led to Tanner Pearson’s goal at 3:33 of the first period to give the Kings the early 2-0 lead. It looked like it would be that kind of the night for the Canadiens, especially when Pacioretty’s stick broke when he would have had a partial breakaway. P.K. Subban breathed some life back into the Canadiens though when he scored on a perfect blast towards the end of the first period to cut the Kings lead in half.
There was no scoring in the second period although the game got increasingly physical which became tough for the Canadiens on the second night of back to back games. Every Kings defenceman except for Rob Scuderi had at least 3 hits on the night. A Kings player was on a Canadiens nearly every time they touched the puck. After the game, Pacioretty described it as:
“I can’t remember a time when I had the puck and I didn’t get hit tonight.…
Michel Therrien reunited the EGG line of Eller in the middle between Alex Galchenyuk and Brendan Gallagher. They produced the Canadiens second goal of the night in the 3rd but it wasn’t enough as Dwight King had scored earlier in the 3rd in what would prove to be the winning goal. Michael McCarron was demoted during the second period as it was evident that he did not have the same jump and energy as it his previous games. It will be interesting to see if Therrien goes back to McCarron with Galchenyuk and Eller on Saturday night or if he keeps the EGG line together.
King’s winning goal was a result of taking advantage of Subban falling to the ice as he attempted to control the puck. Unfortunately he was the last man back and so King beat Scrivens on a breakaway. This time around Therrien defended Subban postgame:
#Habs Therrien on #LAKings winning goal: "It's unfortunate. PK lost an edge; those things happen. It wasn't his fault."
— John Lu (@JohnLuTSNMtl) March 4, 2016
Incredibly, the Canadiens have only defeated a Western conference team on the road once this season. They have to go all the way back to October 30th when they defeated the Calgary Flames 6-2 in Alberta. Perhaps they will be able to somewhat salvage the road trip on Saturday night against the Winnipeg Jets.
Cheers & Follow Along! Follow @Jenbcutler