Music: {allcanada} CANADIENS (41-18-5) at KINGS (30-21-12)

Thursday, March 5, 2015

{allcanada} CANADIENS (41-18-5) at KINGS (30-21-12)

ESPN Fantasy Baseball / Yahoo Fantasy Baseball

Thursday, March 5, 2015

10:30 PM ET

CANADIENS (41-18-5) at KINGS (30-21-12)

TV: RDS, SNE, FS-W

Season series: Goalie Carey Price made 44 saves to help the Montreal Canadiens defeat the Los Angeles Kings 6-2 on Dec. 12 at Bell Centre. P.K. Subban had a goal and two assists.

Canadiens team scope: Montreal has been outscored 7-1 so far on its West Coast trip; it lost 4-0 to the San Jose Sharks on Monday and 3-1 to the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday. Alex Galchenyuk scored late in the third period against the Ducks to end the Canadiens' goal drought at 120:51; they had not scored since David Desharnais' empty-net goal with 2:32 left of a 4-0 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday. Backup goalie Dustin Tokarski might start the second game of the back-to-back set. Price, who made 63 saves on 69 shots in the consecutive losses, has played 52 games, fourth most in the NHL. Montreal is three points ahead of the Tampa Bay Lightning for first place in the Atlantic Division.

Kings team scope: Los Angeles has won nine of 12 after defeating the Edmonton Oilers 5-2 on Tuesday to end a three-game skid. Forward Trevor Lewis had a career-high three points (two assists) playing on a line with Marian Gaborik and Anze Kopitar. "Playing with those two, it almost makes the game a little easier," Lewis said, according to the Los Angeles Times. "They're always there, and I just try to get in, get pucks to them and get to the net." Lewis likely earned himself another game on the top line, which combined for seven points in Edmonton. "We've been trying guys to get that line going and we were able to use him, left wing, right wing," coach Darryl Sutter said, according to the Times. "[Tuesday], we just said we were going to leave him with Kopitar and see what happens." The Kings play five of their next eight at Staples Center before closing March on a five-game road trip. Center Jeff Carter has three goals the past two games, six in the past eight.

Team Stats