Kings at Canadiens
The Montreal Canadiens should be well rested when they enter the Bell Centre to play their home opener against the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday. The Canadiens have been idle since Paul Byron recorded his sixth career multi-goal performance in a 5-1 romp over Pittsburgh on Saturday.
Signed to a four-year contract extension in September, Byron scored his first two goals of the season and set up Joel Armia's first career tally in Montreal uniform. The 29-year-old Byron is a two-time 20-goal scorer, and that type of offense will be welcome on a Canadiens' team that shuffled Max Pacioretty (Vegas) and Alex Galchenyuk (Arizona) out of town in the offseason. Speaking of offense, Los Angeles saw the electric Ilya Kovalchuk score his first goal since returning from the Kontinental Hockey League to sign a three-year, $18.75 million contract in Tuesday's 2-1 setback at Winnipeg. "I prefer to win than score goals. It wasn't enough, so we will be better next game," said the 35-year-old Kovalchuk, who has 418 goals and 819 points in 819 career NHL contests.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, FS West (Los Angeles), TSN2, RDS (Montreal)
ABOUT THE KINGS (1-1-1): Jack Campbell has stepped up after franchise goaltender Jonathan Quick sustained a lower-body injury last weekend, making 36 saves in a 4-2 victory over Detroit on Sunday before turning aside 37 shots two nights later against Winnipeg. "This is what we've been grooming him for, and we don't expect anything different than what he gave us last year," goaltender coach Bill Ranford told the Los Angeles Times of the 26-year-old Campbell, who posted a 2-0-0 mark with a 2.48 goals-against average in five appearances in 2017-18. Campbell signed a two-year contract extension with the Kings last November and was named as Quick's backup in February.
ABOUT THE CANADIENS (1-0-1): The home opener will carry additional significance for Jesperi Kotkaniemi, who will play in front of his mother, Kati, after she flew in from Finland for the game. "I think that will be great. It's going to be fun to finally get my mom here. She will help me a lot every day," the 18-year-old said. "This has been my dream and she's always wanted to see me do well." Kotkaniemi, who was the third overall pick of the 2018 NHL Draft, centered a line with Jonathan Drouin and Armia during Wednesday's practice.
OVERTIME
1. Los Angeles RW Adrian Kempe scored four goals in two games last season versus Montreal, highlighted by his first career hat trick in a 5-1 win on Oct. 18.
2. Canadiens G Carey Price owns a 6-2-0 mark in eight career appearances against the Kings.
3. Los Angeles C Alex Iafallo extended his point streak to three games (two goals, two assists) on Tuesday with an assist on Kovalchuk's first-period goal.