11/9 Preview – No Morning Skate Today, Notes on goaltending, Danault, second line

WHO: Los Angeles Kings (6-5-1) @ Montreal Canadiens (3-10-0)
WHAT: NHL REGULAR-SEASON GAME
WHEN: Tuesday, November 9 @ 4:00 PM Pacific
WHERE: Centre Bell – Montreal, QC
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: Bally Sports West – AUDIO – iHeart Radio – TWITTER: @DooleyLAK & @LAKings

TONIGHT’S MATCHUP: The LA Kings are back in action tonight, as they visit the Montreal Canadiens to complete a back-to-back set at the beginning of their Canadian road trip.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: The Kings scored three power-play goals, and five in total, when these two teams met on October 30, with the result being a 5-2 victory for the Kings on home ice at STAPLES Center. Forward Alex Iafallo led the way with three points (2-1-3) in the win over Montreal, while Rasmus Kupari (1-1-2), Anze Kopitar (0-2-2) and Matt Roy (0-2-2) each had multi-point efforts.

KINGS VITALS: After two days off from games in advance of Toronto, it’s right back at it this evening for the Kings. Tonight’s game marks the third back-to-back set in the first 13 games of the season for LA, with the team currently 1-1-0 this season in those situations, including a victory on home ice against Buffalo on October 31.

Considering the back-to-back set, the expectation is that Cal Petersen will get the nod between the pipes this evening, though that is unconfirmed at this time. Petersen started the previous game this season against Montreal and allowed just two goals in the victory, the first appearance of his NHL career against the Canadiens. On the season, Petersen has won three of his five starts, allowing two or fewer goals in four of those five games.

With no morning skate today, we’ll have to wait and see if there are any lineup changes for the Kings, though with five consecutive victories, and no one individual playing like they should be taken out of the lineup, it’s not an unreasonable assumption that the team might roll with the same 18 skaters tonight in Montreal. If Todd McLellan does decide to make a change, forwards TJ Tynan and Lias Andersson and defenseman Austin Strand are the extras on this trip, with Andersson currently practicing in a non-contact jersey as of yesterday’s morning skate.

Here’s how the Kings lined up in yesterday’s win over Toronto –

Kempe – Kopitar – Brown
Iafallo – Danault – Athanasiou
Grundstrom – Kupari – Moore
Lemieux – Lizotte – Kaliyev

Edler – Clague
Maatta – Roy
Bjornfot – Anderson

Petersen
Quick

CANADIENS VITALS: Montreal has had a slow start to the season, with just three wins from their first 13 games, though they enter tonight’s action well-rested, not having played since Saturday. The Canadiens are currently in the middle of a five-game homestand, that concludes on Thursday against Calgary.

Jake Allen has been a workhorse for the Canadiens so far this season, with 11 appearances through the team’s first 13 games. Allen is tonight’s expected starter and brings a 6-4-0 lifetime record against the Kings. The New Brunswick native has stellar lifetime splits versus the Kings, with a .938 save percentage and a 1.97 goals-against average, though he allowed five goals on 38 shots in the first meeting between the teams this season.

Per the Canadiens’ official website, here’s how the team lined up during yesterday’s practice –

68 – Mike Hoffman – 14 – Nick Suzuki – 73 – Tyler Toffoli
17 – Josh Anderson – 24 – Adam Brooks – 11 – Brendan Gallagher
62 – Artturi Lehkonen – 71 – Jake Evans – 40 – Joel Armia
55 – Michael Pezzetta – 13 – Cedric Paquette – 60 – Alex Belzile

8 – Ben Chiarot – 26 – Jeff Petry
77 – Brett Kulak – 58 – David Savard
27 – Alexander Romanov – 20 – Chris Wideman

34 – Jake Allen
35 – Sam Montembeault

Per the team account, Anderson and forward Christian Dvorak, not listed above, are questionable for tonight, while forward Jonathan Drouin will not play.

Notes –

Strong In The Paint
I don’t think it’s a secret at this point that the LA Kings have gotten strong goaltending through the first 12 games of the season. Todd McLellan pointed out yesterday that rarely do you win in this league without good goaltending, and the Kings have gotten it in spades here in the early goings, and certainly on their current five-game winning streak.

Jonathan Quick and Cal Petersen have, generally, split time between the pipes, with Quick currently having seven starts to Petersen’s five, though we’d expect to see the latter make that six starts this evening.

The Kings currently rank eighth in the NHL in cumulative save percentage, with Quick and Petersen combining to post a .922 mark through last night’s game. Quick’s stats have been excellent, with the veteran currently at a .926 save percentage to this point. Petersen’s numbers are below his usual mark, but are heavily skewed by the 7-3 defeat in St. Louis.

If you remove that one game from the equation, the team total for the Kings elevates to a .931 mark, which would place them in the top five across the league. Individually, Petersen would jump from a .898 mark to a .925 mark by removing just the St. Louis game from his equation. He’s allowed two or fewer goals in his other four starts and has given the team a chance to win in those four outings.

It’s an early-season sample size, both good and bad. 12 games isn’t representative of a full 82, meaning that there’s still a lot of time before we can truly evaluate the tandem. It’s also a reminder that one game, when you’ve only played five, can skew a set of statistics.

Sort of on that note – Goaltending Coach Bill Ranford joined us on the All The Kings Men podcast that dropped yesterday, and touches on the current balance between the two netminders. Will post a few of the more relevant quotes here on LAKI tomorrow, but those interested can listen here. Good chat with one of the longest-tenured employees here on the hockey operations side for the Kings.

Philling The Scoresheet
I mean, can we really visit Montreal without talking about Phillip Danault?

It’s not just about his return to the city where he spent the bulk of his professional career before joining the Kings, however, but more about a strong run of games for Danault, the pivot of the team’s second line.

Danault had two goals last night, his first multi-goal game as a member of the Kings, as he led all skaters with seven shots on goal, won 64.2% of his faceoffs and his team controlled two-thirds of the shot attempts while he was on the ice.

“It was just a matter of time,” Danault said, of turning chances into goals. “We were buzzing every game and now [the offense] is coming. Perfect timing.”

On the season, Danault and his regular linemate Alex Iafallo both rank inside the NHL’s Top 15 in terms of CF%, with Danault just a shade under 59 percent of shot attempts controlled this season. He’s firmly on the right side of scoring chances and high-danger chances as well, and he’s done it all while leading the Kings in defensive-zone starts.

The line has shifted in personnel a bit over the last five periods or so, with forward Andreas Athanasiou slotting in as the third member and Adrian Kempe moving up to the top line to fill the void of Viktor Arvidsson, who remains in COVID Protocol. Athanasiou brings a speedy, offensive game to that line – similar in some ways to Kempe – and the changes have allowed Todd McLellan to spread speed throughout the lineup.

Athanasiou spoke yesterday about it being easy to skate with players like Danault and Iafallo, saying he can just hop in and play his game. Danault was complementary of Athanasiou and his addition to that unit, highlighting his skating abilities and offensive skill as a good fit.

“Obviously his speed, good offense, good poise, makes good plays, stretching the [defense],” Danault said yesterday. “I’ll say it again, his speed is opening up everything for us in the o-zone and he’s helping out defensively too, but him stretching the o-zone is helping us to get the puck out and defenses are a little more scared of us.”

Athanasiou has three points (1-2-3) from two games with that unit, after making his season debut against New Jersey. Danault has points in three straight games and five of his last six. Iafallo has a season-long six-game scoring streak, extended with two assists last night.

Kings and Canadiens, tonight at 4 PM Pacific at the visitors go for six in a row!