Balanced scoring helps Canadiens dethrone Kings
MONTREAL -- The Montreal Canadiens put together one of their best efforts in recent outings to skate away with a 4-1 win against the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday night at the Bell Centre.
Paul Byron, Daniel Carr, Phillip Danault and Alex Galchenyuk scored for Montreal (12-1-1), which won its third straight.
Tyler Toffoli scored for the Kings (7-7-0).
Goaltender Peter Budaj, making his 11th straight start, stopped 19 shots for Los Angeles against his former team. Carey Price made 23 saves for the Canadiens.
The Canadiens opened the scoring for the 11th time in 14 games this season, on a strong shift from their top line.
Alexander Radulov did the hard work down low, circling back to evade defenseman Jake Muzzin before cutting in and getting a shot off in front of Budaj. The Kings netminder made the save but Byron was there to put the rebound behind him at 7:48 of the first period.
The goal snapped Budaj's shutout streak at 140 minutes and 57 seconds.
Carr doubled Montreal's lead just over six minutes later. Torrey Mitchell won the face-off cleanly, drawing the puck back to Andrei Markov, whose shot from just outside the right circle was tipped by Carr.
Two power plays opened the door for the Kings to get on the board in the first but the visitors couldn't muster much with the man advantage, recording just three shots on goal.
Danault picked up his fourth of the season at 9:37 of the second period. Max Pacioretty sent a bouncing puck towards the net that Budaj stopped, but Danault reached to his right to get to the loose puck and, with Andrew Shaw screening and jumping, fired a sharp angle shot to put Montreal ahead 3-0.
The Kings had their best chance of the night midway through the third when Anze Kopitar thought he had an open net on a four-minute power play, only to see Price get a piece of the puck deflect it up and away.
But Los Angeles would finally beat the Canadiens' netminder in the second half of the power play. Kopitar found Toffoli at the right side of the net and the Kings winger lifted it past Price at 11:57.
The goal snapped a 0-for-23 drought on the power play for Los Angeles.
Galchenyuk fired into an empty net at 18:11 to cap off the scoring.
The Canadiens opened the scoring for the 11th time in 14 games this season with a strong shift from their top line.
Alexander Radulov did the hard work down low, circling back to evade defenseman Jake Muzzin before cutting in and getting a shot off in front of Budaj. The Kings netminder made the save, but Byron was there to put the rebound behind him at 7:48 of the first period.
The goal snapped Budaj's shutout streak at 140 minutes and 57 seconds.
Carr doubled Montreal's lead just over six minutes later. Torrey Mitchell won the faceoff cleanly, drawing the puck back to Andrei Markov, whose shot from just outside the right circle was tipped by Carr.
Two power plays opened the door for the Kings to get on the board in the first period, but the visitors couldn't muster much with the man advantage, getting just three shots on goal.
Danault picked up his fourth goal of the season at 9:37 of the second period. Max Pacioretty sent a bouncing puck toward the net that Budaj stopped, but Danault reached to his right to get to the loose puck and, with Andrew Shaw screening and jumping, fired a sharp angle shot to put Montreal ahead 3-0.
NOTES: The Canadiens made two lineup changes, inserting RW Sven Andrighetto and D Joel Hanley in place of C David Desharnais and D Greg Pateryn. ... Eligible to return after serving a three-game suspension, Los Angeles D Tom Gilbert was a healthy scratch along with C Jordan Nolan. Gilbert spent the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons with the Canadiens. ... Montreal C Tomas Plekanec played in his 857th NHL game, tying him with Tom Johnson for 15th place on the Canadiens' career games played list. ... Before the game, the Habs honored former Canadiens and Kings G Rogatien Vachon, who will be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame on Monday.