(Los Angeles) Quebec forward Phillip Danault won his bet on Saturday afternoon in the Los Angeles Kings’ 5-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens at Staples Center.
(Re) read our live coverage Check out the match summary
Danault, who joined the Kings as an unrestricted free agent last summer, was playing a game opener against his former team. He ended the meeting with an assist.
Viktor Arvidsson, Arthur Kaliyev, Rasmus Kupari and Alex Iafollo, twice, backed him up by hitting the target for the Kings (2-5-1), who had not relished a victory since their opener on 6 October. Three of their five goals were scored on the power play.
Josh Anderson and Ben Chiarot fought back for the Canadian (2-7-0), who was trying to sign a second straight victory for the first time in the campaign.
“We created something at the end of the second period, although it was not a good period. Except you come back in third, the game is 2-1 (in favor of the Kings), and that’s where you have to come out. But in 10 seconds we got a penalty. It’s one of the worst ways to start a period, especially when you want to come from behind in a close game like this. It killed the match, ”summarized head coach Dominique Ducharme.
“We have to be able to manage that, that’s for sure,” he added.
It was a seventh straight start for Jake Allen, the team’s No. 1 goalie in Carey Price’s absence. Allen, who signed his first shutout for CH in the last game, had a more difficult game than the last and ended the game with 33 saves.
His opposite, Cal Petersen, was not put to the test too much by the Habs, on their way to victory. He ended the game by repelling 26 shots aimed at him.
As is often the case with afternoon games – the initial face-off was at 1 p.m. local time – both teams were slow to get going.
Canadian striker Christian Dvorak also took advantage of the Kings’ nonchalance to set the table for the first goal of the match at the end of the first period.
Dvorak recovered a free puck in the neutral zone before moving into enemy territory and passing the disc on to Anderson, alone, who beat Petersen with a shot from the wrists flush with the ice on the stick side with 1: 38 to play the first third. It was his second goal in as many games – he had shot in an empty net against the San Jose Sharks on Thursday night.
The Kings, however, tied the game early in the second period, courtesy of Arvidsson, following a staging similar to that which led to Anderson’s net.
Kaliyev then gave the home team a 2-1 lead on the power play, at 12:19, with a powerful wrist shot that stole Allen’s vigilance, over the glove.
At that point, the Canadian could still hope to come from behind in the third period. However, he rather flattened out on his return from the locker room.
Kupari also first used his precise wrist shot to beat the Habs’ stalker over the glove, on the numerical advantage, at 1: 53 of the last third. Iafallo then jumped on Allen’s generous throw-back into the enclave to take the score to 4-1, less than four minutes later, before sealing the game’s end late in the period – and yes, again with the benefit of a man.
The game was out of CH’s reach at the time, but that didn’t stop Chiarot from flickering the red light behind Petersen’s net for form, with 2:20 to go.
Ducharme had made no change to his formation compared to Thursday night, in the 4-0 victory over the Sharks.
For the Kings, all-star defenseman Drew Doughty went missing after suffering a serious knee injury earlier this month.
A 20-minute team meeting
This other scathing setback seemed to shake the CH players.
A team meeting of about 20 minutes was also called immediately after the meeting, at the request of the players – according to Ducharme.
“They know what to do. They know what makes us successful. The game in San Jose wasn’t perfect, but there was something to build on… I can’t pick them up every other day. At some point, it has to come from them too. We are all in the same boat, we all want the same business, but they also have their part to do, ”said Ducharme about this meeting behind closed doors.
Asked to know the content of this meeting, David Savard indicated that he preferred that “it remains between us”. Ditto for Chiarot.
It remains to be seen whether the message will get through this time around.
The Canadian will complete his four-game trip to the American West with a visit to the Ducks in Anaheim on Sunday afternoon.
Goalkeeper Samuel Montembeault could be called upon to defend the Bleu blanc-rouge’s cage against the Ducks, since it will be a second game in 24 hours for the Montrealers.