Kings host Canadiens with a new look and momentum
The Kings will try to carry momentum from one of their better home games this season, a 5-3 victory over the New York Islanders on Thursday, as they welcome the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday.
It will be the first game since Friday’s NHL trade deadline, when the Kings moved out Corey Perry, a day after dealing Warren Foegele, as well as added Scott Laughton and Mathieu Joseph, roughly a month after landing Artemi Panarin.
With the deadline having come and gone under first-year General Manager Ken Holland, Kings interim coach D.J. Smith knew exactly what he was working with as the team tried to close the gap between its standing and a postseason berth.
“Regardless of what happened, my job is to provide structure and energy, and try to win every game possible,” Smith said. “The management – and Kenny’s done this for a long time – makes the decision as to which way we’re going and which players are going to be here, and it’s my job to coach them. It’s good that it’s over and there’s no stress on anyone’s mind, but our job is to win the next game.”
An infusion of youth has been beneficial at times but, regardless, it was necessary after the Kings lost Kevin Fiala to a broken leg at the Olympics, Joel Armia to the reaggravation of an issue from Milan, Andrei Kuzmenko to knee surgery and Quinton Byfield to an upper-body injury even before Foegele and Perry were sent away late this week.
Smith said Byfield would travel with the team on the upcoming five-game road trip, and that Armia was “a little behind him” as far as a target for recovery. Fiala and Kuzmenko will not play again this regular season, though Holland said Kuzmenko was at least a remote possibility for the postseason, should the Kings qualify.
They’ll be facing a Montreal team that went to the Stanley Cup Final as a Cinderella contender in 2021 with a roster that included Perry and Armia, as well as Kings defenseman Joel Edmundson and Phillip Danault, the center who went from Montreal to Los Angeles and back after a Dec. 20 trade that returned him to his native Quebec (he’ll make his first return appearance Crypto.com Arena on Saturday).
Otherwise, these Habs are quite different from the ones who lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning, another of Perry’s former teams, which he rejoined in Friday’s trade. Nick Suzuki was an up-and-comer then, now he’s the team captain. Cole Caufield played 10 games that season, now he’s one of three 60-point producers for le bleu-blanc-rouge.
Completing that trio is Lane Hutson, one of the most dynamic forces on the blue line in the game. The Kings just contended with 18-year-old phenom Matthew Schaefer with the Isles, and they will now have to contain a similar threat in Hutson.
“You’ve gotta hit ’em. If you hit ’em, it takes a lot of energy out of those offensive guys,” Smith said. “It’s hard to hit those guys, because they’re smart and their hockey IQ is so good, but if you can get in front of them and make them have to skate through you, it makes it way harder. But, those are special talents in this league for sure.
CANADIENS AT KINGS
When: Saturday, 4 p.m.
Where: Crypto.com Arena
TV: FDSN West, KCAL (Ch. 9)