LOS ANGELES—Trevor Moore scored two goals, Pheonix Copley made 18 saves in his third career shutout, and the Los Angeles Kings beat the Montreal Canadiens 4–0 Saturday, Nov. 25, for their fifth consecutive victory.
Carl Grundström and Trevor Lewis also scored for the Kings, who have won nine of 11 overall in their impressive 13–3–3 start to the season.
Los Angeles thoroughly dominated Montreal, allowing just one shot on goal in the first period and largely throttling any significant scoring chances in another strong defensive effort.
Los Angeles has allowed just five goals during its five-game winning streak, and coach Todd McLellan credits the Kings’ season-long success to their discipline on defense and in game management.
“We are 13–3–3, so we can be excited about that, but we’re at Game 19,” McLellan said. “We have a lot of work to do. We have to continue to grow and get better. We’ve had a schedule that favors us as far as rest and being able to practice, but when January and February roll around, it’s all going to be done visually, because we play every other night.”
Copley was sharp in only his sixth appearance and first shutout of the season for the Kings, who have largely relied on Cam Talbot in net.
The 31-year-old Copley played in nearly half of Los Angeles’ games last season in his most significant stretch of NHL action.
Jake Allen stopped 26 shots for the Habs, who were shut out for the first time this season. Montreal had won on the first two stops of its California road trip after losing eight of its previous 10.
“They’re a good team, deep team, play a really structured brand of hockey,” Montreal captain Nick Suzuki said. “We knew we had to be on our best. I don’t think we showed that tonight. They gave us a lot of trouble through the neutral zone and the offensive zone. ... We knew what to expect. Some things we just weren’t executing the way we talked about.”
About four minutes after Montreal got its only shot on goal in the first period, the Kings went ahead on a pretty one-timer from the top of the left faceoff circle by Grundström for his seventh goal.
Moore scored midway through the second period by slipping a wraparound past Allen for his 10th goal of the season.
“We just stuck with our game,” said Moore, who took over the Kings’ goals lead at 11 with his second multigoal performance in three games. “A couple of turnovers there in the second, but other than that, it was pretty (good), shift after shift. We just did what we wanted to do, stayed patient and got the win.”
Jaret Anderson-Dolan forced a turnover by Johnathan Kovacevic deep in the Habs’ end early in the third period, feeding Lewis for the two-time Stanley Cup champion’s third goal since his return to the Kings.
Moore beat Allen with a short-side backhand that should have been stopped with 6:32 to play.
The teams meet again in Montreal on Dec. 7. If the Kings win in Columbus two days before that game, they will be playing to set a new NHL record with 11 straight road victories to start a season.
UP NEXT
Canadiens: At Columbus on Wednesday.
Kings: Host Washington on Wednesday.
