If only they were all played on the road.
Los Angeles kicked off their six-game road trip a few days ago with an impressive third-period comeback win in Pittsburgh. They’ll now look to carry that momentum over to tonight, as the Kings take on Cole Caufield and the Canadiens in Montreal’s Bell Center.
Perhaps the biggest story coming out of Sunday’s victory was the play of Kevin Fiala. Coach Jim Hiller admitted after the win that he believes much of his team’s success is largely determined by the play of Fiala, and the Swiss-born forward delivered on Sunday. Playing over 23 minutes of dominant hockey, Fiala capped it off with a highlight-reel worthy goal to give his team the lead late in the third period.
It’s those kinds of performances that the Kings have been missing for large parts of this season. The truth is, amid any concern and frustration with the team’s slow start, LA does actually have impact players. Names like Kempe, Byfield, and Fiala can all have a significant impression on a hockey game. Night in and night out, those players are capable of carrying a team; and frankly, Hiller hasn’t seen that out of his guys much over the past month — until Sunday, when Fiala took over the game.
Doing it consistently in the weeks ahead could make up for the missed opportunities thus far in LA’s 2025-26 season and get Hiller’s squad squarely back on track.
In other news, Anze Kopitar has now scored in back-to-back games and may be starting to find some puck luck. They do seem to come in bunches; hopefully, they keep on coming for the captain as he continues his last season playing in the NHL.
Shifting focus back to tonight, this is a young Canadiens team that is hungry and rounding out their game in the early part of the season. With a high-flying offense — comprised of exciting young players — the Kings will need to bring their A-game defensively to escape town with another two points.
Statistically Speaking
— LA is currently riding a seven game point streak when playing away from Crypto.com Arena.
— The Kings are 8-2-0 in their last ten matchups against the Canadiens.
— Fiala has four goals, two of which were game-winning scores, and 10 points (4G, 6A) with a plus-5 rating in his last eight games against the Canadiens, dating back to the 2021-22 campaign.
— Adrian Kempe’s three career game-winning goals at Bell Centre are tied for the most among all active skaters in the NHL.
— Anze Kopitar has 24 points in 26 career games against Montreal.
— Co-leading the team in goals with seven, Corey Perry (7G, 4A) has the second-most points by a player 40 years of age or older in Kings history behind Larry Robinson (13 in 1991-92). His seven tallies are tied with Gordie Howe for the most through 10 games in a season by a player 40 years of age or older, per NHL PR.
— Is it Kuzy time on the power play?
— Joel Armia’s super powers have been activated, according to the numbers.
What You May Have Missed
More than 30 years ago, the Kings and Canadiens met up in the Stanley Cup Final. It was LA’s first trip to the championship round and… well, it didn’t go as planned. Nonetheless, coach Barry Melrose has fond memories of that time period in LA:
Kings Projected Lineup vs. Canadiens
If there are any key changes during pregame warmups, this article will be updated.
Armia – Kopitar – Kempe
Fiala – Byfield – Laferriere
Kuzmenko – Danault – Moore
Foegele – Turcotte – Perry
Anderson – Doughty
Edmundson – Clarke
Dumoulin – Ceci
Kuemper (starter)
Forsberg
Likely scratches: (F) Helenius, Malott and (D) Moverare
Key Game Info
Puck drop is set for 4:00 pm Pacific Time and will be televised locally by FanDuel Sports. Additionally, a Kings radio feed is available on the ESPN LA app.
Get to know new Kings play-by-play voice John Kelly by checking out his interview here. He tells some interesting stories about joining the Kings broadcasts and what it was like calling games against them for most of his career.
Across the Ice
Montreal is coming off a 6-2 victory over Utah on Saturday. Here’s how they lined up in that matchup:
Caufield – Suzuki – Slafkovsky
Newhook – Kapanen – Demidov
Bolduc – Dach – Gallagher
Anderson – Evans – Veleno
Matheson – Dobson
Struble – Hutson
Xhekaj – Carrier
Montembeault
On This Day in Kings History
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