In Montreal, Anze Kopitar and Viktor Arvidsson scored 19 seconds apart in the first period on Saturday to to give the Los Angeles Kings a 2-0 lead over the Canadiens. 
“Good response by the group as a whole,” Kings coach Todd McLellan said. “Whether you were an eight, nine-minute man tonight or a 20-minute man, you were responsible for your game. I think we came to the rink and we trusted each other tonight. We didn’t do that in Toronto, and it showed on the ice.”
Pheonix Copley made 20 saves and the Kings went on to a 4-2 victory.
“It was kind of a weird game,” Copley said. “There were a lot of blocks where I wasn’t getting a lot of work, so it was kind of more one of the games where you have to be mentally sharp. The guys were doing a really good job with puck possession and playing in the other end. … The guys battled hard, and it was a good win for us.”
The Kings took a 3-0lead into the third period before Mike Hoffman and Cole Caufield scored, for Montreal to cut their deficit to 3-2.
Montreal dropped to 13-12-2.
“They sit back and wait for you to dump the puck, and they’ve got a guy waiting for it,” Caufield said. “So it’s hard to get pucks back with that. It’s not really fun hockey, in my opinion, but you’ve got to find ways to beat it. And there’s some times where we did, but it’s obviously a tough thing to crack.”
The Canadiens were outshot, 16-5, in the first period.
“We were happy that the period ended,” Montreal coach Martin St. Louis said.
Alexander Edler hit for a goal at 9:12 of the third period to give the Kings a 3-0 advantage, one they needed.
“It ended up being the winner, and anytime that happens to a team, one, we get a little bit of a lift, and it sets them back for a couple of minutes at least and buys you time,” McLellan said.
LA improved to 13-11-4.
Adrian Kempe backhanded a shot from the D zone to the empty net for a the 4-1 final with 37 seconds left on the clock.
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Jake Allen made 31 saves in the Habs loss.
“They’re a well-structured team, we all know that,” Allen said. “I think they’re a good hockey club. I know we don’t see them often, but they’ve got some good veterans, some good chemistry over there, and I think their neutral zone is tough to crack. That 1-3-1 forecheck is tough to crack, and they’re good at possessing the puck in the O-zone. We saw that tonight, creating chances from that.”
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