LOS ANGELES (AP) – Alex Iafallo scored two goals and one assist, and the Los Angeles Kings ended a losing streak of six games by beating the Montreal Canadiens 5-2 on Saturday.
Arthur Kaliyev and Rasmus Kupari each scored on power play, Anze Kopitar and Matt Roy each had two assists and the Kings won for the first time since their season opener. Cal Petersen made 26 parades.
What you need to know
- The Los Angeles Kings ended a six-game losing streak by beating the Montreal Canadiens 5-2 on Saturday
- Alex Iafallo had two goals and an assist
- LA was 3-for-5 on power play after playing 2-for-21 in their last six games
- Next up: The Kings will host the Buffalo Sabers on Sunday
Los Angeles was 3v5 in power play after playing 2v21 in their last six games, and coach Todd McLellan said that made the difference.
“It gave us a cushion. It gave us some comfort. It gave us confidence,” McLellan said. “We’ve been waiting for that to happen.”
Josh Anderson scored for the second game in a row, but the Canadiens failed to record straight wins for the first time this season. Jake Allen allowed five goals in 38 shots.
Montreal held a long team meeting after the defeat.
“It takes a certain amount of competition, a certain amount of work to win this league every night. And right now we are not ready to give that consistently. And our results show that,” said Canadiens striker Ben Chiarot called.
After Los Angeles scored just six goals in seven games in the second period, Los Angeles scored two against Montreal, with special teams putting them in the lead after being largely absent during the winless spin.
Kaliyev sunk a powerful wrist shot from the left circle to put the Kings 2-1 ahead at 12:19. It was his second career goal and the first in power play.
Los Angeles brought the momentum into the third game, with Kupari scoring for the second time in a row to 3-1 1:53 in the period.
“And when you score like that on power play, there are other parts of your game,” said McLellan. “You’re getting confident. I think that could have been the difference in the game tonight.”
Iafallo extended the lead to 4: 1 at 5:37 and scored the Kings third power play goal at 14:16.
It was the Kings first game with multiple powerplay goals since defeating Vegas on the opening night. The difference, said Iafallo, is the willingness to shoot.
“I feel like we worked on it in practice and it hasn’t gone well for us in the last few games, but tonight we wanted to focus on getting shots through no matter where they come from.” ,” he said.
The Canadiens took a 1-0 lead at 18:22 of the first period when Anderson’s wrist shot shot out of the right circle, but the Kings did it at 1-all when Viktor Arvidsson Allen shot out of the right circle with a wrist shot from the right circle at 4. defeated: 31.
“We don’t seem to have the right reaction now, the right kind of defense, and that’s the biggest thing,” said Chiarot, who scored 5-2, 2:20 behind in the third game. “I mean, we had some momentum in this game and then it turns around. A lot of penalties, of course, but we have to be able to recover.”
Unhappy return
Canadien’s F. Tyler Toffoli first played the Kings after spending his first eight seasons in Los Angeles, where he was a key part of the 2014 Stanley Cup winning team. Toffoli received a video tribute in the first period and received a round of applause when announced as a starter, but said the welcome reception was spoiled by Montreal’s poor performance.
“It was really nice,” said Toffoli. “I’ve spent many good, good years here and it’s only unfortunate that bad effort washed it away.”
Remarks
It was Kopitar’s third multi-point game. The Kings captain hadn’t scored a point in his last three games. … Kings D Olli Maatta got his 100th career assist. … Kings F Lias Andersson made his season debut after missing the first seven games with a groin injury. … Kings F Brendan Lemieux returned after missing six games on the COVID-19 log.
Next
Canadians: Go to the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday.
Kings: Hosts the Buffalo Sabers on Sunday.
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