The Kings are in Montreal tonight as they face off against the Canadiens.
The Kings are looking to build off the comeback win over the Pittsburgh Penguins tonight as they face one of the best teams in the NHL. The Montreal Canadiens are coming off a 6-2 win over the Utah Mammoth, and they are looking to also build off of that win.
Here are the projected lines for the Kings:
Joel Armia – Anze Kopitar – Adrian Kempe
Kevin Fiala – Quinton Byfield – Alex Laferriere
Andrei Kuzmenko – Phillip Danault – Trevor Moore
Warren Foegele – Alex Turcotte – Corey Perry
Mikey Anderson – Drew Doughty
Joel Edmundson – Brandt Clarke
Brian Dumoulin – Cody Ceci
Darcy Kuemper
Anton Forsberg
Here are the projected lines for the Canadiens:
Cole Caufield – Nick Suzuki – Juraj Slafkovsky
Alex Newhook – Oliver Kapanen – Ivan Demidov
Zach Bolduc – Kirby Dach – Brendan Gallagher
Josh Anderson – Jake Evans – Joe Veleno
Mike Matheson – Noah Dobson
Jayden Struble – Lane Hutson
Arber Xhekaj – Alexandre Carrier
Sam Montembeault
Jakub Dobes
The Kings are coming into this game fully healthy, as Warren Foegele, who was injured, returned in the game against the Penguins. The Canadiens will be without Kaiden Guhle (lower body) and Patrik Laine (lower body).
The Kings are facing a young, fast, and skilled team tonight in one of the NHL’s loudest arenas. The Kings are coming into this game ranked 21st on the power-play and 23rd on the penalty kill. The Canadiens are coming into this game ranked 5th on the power-play and 17th on the penalty kill.
The Kings have been able to find consistent scoring recently, as forward Corey Perry has 7 goals in 10 games, but the Canadiens have had some consistent scorers as well, with Cole Caufield tied for 2nd in the NHL in goals. The Kings will have to build momentum from defensive stops to create counterattacks against the Canadiens in order to dictate the game.
Darcy Kuemper is 6-3-1 in his career against the Canadiens, and in those games, he averaged a .897 save percentage and a 2.68 goals against average. Whereas Sam Montembeault is 1-2 against the Kings, he averaged a .899 save percentage and a 3.58 goals-against average. This season alone, Kuemper has been the better goaltender between the two, and the Kings will need him to be sharp tonight.
If the Kings can be smart defensively and build momentum off counterattacks and their transition game, the Kings can walk out of the Bell Centre with a win. My prediction for this game is 3-1 for the Kings.
