FINAL – Kings 5, Canadiens 1 – Armia, Byfield, Hiller

The LA Kings made it two straight to begin the trip, as they skated to a 5-1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday evening at Centre Bell in Montreal.

After a back-and-forth opening period, the Canadiens opened the scoring inside the final minute to take a 1-0 lead into the first intermission. Skating on a 3-on-2 rush, Montreal worked the puck from right-to-left, culminating in a Josh Anderson one-timer, which may have deflected off a Los Angeles stick on its way past Kings goaltender Darcy Kuemper and in for his second goal of the season and a one-goal advantage through 20 minutes.

Early in the second period, the Kings used a simple yet effective formula to tie the game at one. Forward Anze Kopitar won a faceoff cleanly in the offensive zone, back to defenseman Brandt Clarke at the left point. Clarke went across the blueline to set up his defensive partner, Joel Edmundson, who he one-timed the puck past Montreal goaltender Samuel Montembeault and to level the score at a goal apiece.

The Kings capitalized on a delayed penalty to take their first lead of the game exactly three minutes after Edmundson’s goal. Skating 6-on-5 with the extra attacker, the Kings kept the play alive in the offensive zone on several occasions, before resetting the puck to forward Adrian Kempe at the center point. Kempe’s shot was saved, but the rebound fell to forward Quinton Byfield, who snapped a 12-game goalless drought to put the visitors ahead 2-1.

Just over a minute later, the Kings made it 3-1 as forward Kevin Fiala continued his strong run of form. Fiala started the play, by winning a puck battle in the offensive zone to restore possession of the puck. He then moved it off, cycled around through the slot and drove towards the net, eventually burying off an Alex Laferriere play towards the net for his team-leading eighth goal of the season.

Midway through the third period, forward Joel Armia capitalized in his return to Montreal to put the Kings ahead 4-1. Armia hunted down defenseman Lane Hutson, pickpocketed his former teammate and generated a breakaway, which he buried on the glove side past Montembeault for his third goal of the season and a three-goal advantage for the Kings.

Forward Warren Foegele picked the empty net to seal the deal with a 5-1 victory.

Hear from Armia, Byfield and Head Coach Jim Hiller after tonight’s win.

Joel Armia

Quinton Byfield
On snapping his goalless streak by scoring tonight
Oh yeah, I mean, it’s obviously nice, been a few games, so that one was everyone’s good, but more importantly, I feel like we had a really solid game and came up with two points.

On the team’s response to begin the second period
I thought our first period went pretty solid, coming in down one is not the spot you want to be in. We came out just kind of as we did, we started off good in the game and then as the period went on, kind of gave it to them and then we came out and responded again. Good three goals there.

On playing with Kevin Fiala with his current level right now
It’s good playing with him. When he’s going, I’ve always said he’s one of the best players when he’s rolling. Whenever I hear his voice getting called, I’m looking for him. I just want to get him the puck as much I can and get open for him.

On Joel Armia’s goal, coming against his former team
That’s an Army goal right there for you. I feel like, as much as I watched him playing against him prior, he’s one of the best PK’ers in the league, he’s always working hard, he’s always doing stuff out of practice, he’s always ready and he’s always competing. I feel like what’s underrated is his finishing ability and the skill that he has, kind of mixed all together on that goal. It was nice to see him score one on his return.

Jim Hiller
On responding to the late goal against and surging in the second offensively
I thought we played a good first period. The three versus five kill was really important, but I thought we had our legs, we forechecked, we felt pretty good about the period, so to come out down one was disappointing. I thought we did a good job not to overreact and just understand we were playing well, just come out and do it again.

On Quinton Byfield scoring and the play of him and his line
Yeah, he was due. That line, they were they were on it offensively. They were on it in Pittsburgh. Obviously, Kevin had a great game so it’s good. He needed one, and where did he get it from? He ended up right in front of the net by the time he scored.

On the second and third goals being “Kings esque” goals and wanting more of that
Yeah, I thought during our home stretch, I thought we did a really good in the o-zone, we talked about 90 attempts against Jersey, came up short, Pittsburgh, I didn’t like us and then now, I thought we were back on it. That’s how we have to play, that really is. We’ve got to frustrate you, counter-punch off the rush and then make it hard in the o-zone.

On seeing the team shut the game down in the third period
It was good. We wanted to push, we wanted to do a little bit more, but they kicked it back and so once they kicked it back, we came back and there was a lot of standing through the neutral zone and clogging it. We just did what we had to do.

On seeing Joel Armia get that goal in his former home arena
Oh, I was really happy for him. He clearly has some great friends here, very well respected player, I thought the fans gave him a tremendous ovation. Sometimes you move on, that’s just the way the game is, so I was just happy for him to get that.

On the play of Foegele, Danault and Moore after going back together in the third period
I just have to say, really have to make this point, I thought Danault, Moore and Foegele were a really important line for us last year and kind of hadn’t found the chemistry and injuries and I thought they were a really important part of the game tonight, especially in the second half.

Notes –
– Defenseman Joel Edmundson (1-1=2) scored his first goal of the season to tie tonight’s contest at a goal apiece before providing the primary helper, his seventh assist of the season, on the go-ahead tally exactly three minutes later. Per NHL EDGE, Edmundson’s 96.75 mph slap shot overtook Brandon Montour (96.40 mph on Nov. 1) for the hardest shot recorded on a goal this year.
– The 32-year-old blueliner, who helped the Canadiens to the 2021 Stanley Cup Final, has five points (2-3=5) in his last four appearances at Bell Centre as a visitor, dating back to his only previous multi-point (1-1=2) performance against Montreal on Feb. 29, 2020 with Carolina.
– Forward Quinton Byfield (1-1=2) scored his third goal of the year before registering his 11th assist of the year to help the Kings double their lead through the first two periods of play tonight in Montreal. The 23-year-old’s goal stands as his first game-winner of the campaign.
– Byfield has six points (3-3=4) in his first three career visits to Bell Centre and has a four-game point streak against Montreal (3-6=9), dating back to Dec. 7, 2023. Byfield is the first player in Kings history to record three seperate multi-point games against the Canadiens before his 24th birthday.
– Winger Kevin Fiala (1-0=1) broke a tie with former Montreal Canadien Corey Perry (7G) for the most goals by a Kings skater by netting his eighth of the year. Fiala now has three goals over his last two meetings with Montreal (2G, Feb. 5, 2025) and six points (2-4=6) in his last five visits to Bell Centre, dating back to April 19, 2022, with Minnesota.
– Forward Joel Armia (1=0=1) scored his third goal of the season in his return to Bell Centre after spending the past seven seasons in Montreal before signing as a free agent with Los Angeles on July 1, 2025.
– Forward Warren Foegele (1-0=1) sealed the Kings’ 5-1 victory tonight with his second goal of the year. Foegele now has three points (2-1=3) in as many matchups with Montreal as a member of the LA Kings.
– Defenseman Brandt Clarke (0-1=1) picked up his sixth assist of the campaign, his eighth point of the season (2-6=8) to keep pace with his partner, Joel Edmundson (1-7=8), for the most by a Kings defenseman.
– Captain Anze Kopitar (0-1=1) recorded his seventh helper of the year to extend his point streak versus Montreal to a fourth game (1-5=6), dating back to Dec. 17, 2023, and his road point streak against the club to a fourth game (2-4=6) as well, dating back to Dec. 10, 2022.
– Winger Adrian Kempe (0-1=1) recorded his team-leading 12th assist of the year on Byfield’s go-ahead goal. In doing so, Kempe extended his point streak as a visitor to Montreal to a fifth game (3-3=6), dating back to Nov. 9, 2021.
– Forward Alex Laferriere (0-1=1) notched his fifth assist of the campaign, pushing his point streak against the Canadiens to a third game (1-2=3), dating back to Oct. 17, 2024.
– Forward Phillip Danault (0-1=1) was the third alumnus of the Canadiens’ Clarence S. Campbell Bowl-winning roster to find the scoresheet for the LA Kings tonight with his assist on Foegele’s goal, the fourth assist of the year by the native of Victoriaville, Quebec.
– Goaltender Darcy Kuemper made 21 saves on 22 shots on goal to earn his sixth win of the season and extend his point streak on the road to seven consecutive results (5-0-2), dating back to Oct. 13 in Minnesota.
– Per NHL PR, the Kings scored three times in 4:05, marking their fastest three goals on the road since Dec. 14, 2024 (2:18 at NYR).
– The Kings extend their winning streak against Montreal to a ninth game (9-0-0), dating back to Oct. 30, 2021. This is the Kings’ longest active run against a single opponent. Tonight’s win also extends the team’s road point streak to eight games dating to Oct. 13 (6-0-2) – the longest run by any team this season and the Kings’ longest since 2023-24 (11-0-1 from Oct. 17 – Dec. 9, 2023), per NHL PR.

The Kings have a scheduled day off tomorrow in Toronto. They will return to the ice on Thursday, November 13 for morning skate, in advance of that evening’s game versus the Maple Leafs.