Music: {allcanada} Lewis, Kings face Canadiens fighting for playoff spot

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EL SEGUNDO, Calif. – Los Angeles Kings right wing Trevor Lewis probably wouldn't be the first that comes to mind as far as players to watch against the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday at Staples Center. But Lewis is enjoying a nice ride playing on the top line.

Lewis has benefited from playing with left wing Marian Gaborik and center Anze Kopitar. He had his first three-point game Tuesday, a one-goal, two-assist performance against the Edmonton Oilers. Lewis couldn't really remember his last three-point game.

"Probably in [Manchester of the American Hockey League] or something," Lewis said. "But, yeah, it's fun. I mean, it's a fast pace with them, and I'm enjoying it."

Lewis has established career highs with nine goals and 19 points, the type of numbers he hasn't reached since early in his hockey career. With Gaborik and Kopitar the past six or seven games, it's been nice to re-visit the scoresheet.

"I think you need to chip in every once in a while," Lewis said. "You can't go a season and get no points. It's good. Hopefully [I'll] keep it going."

Lewis has been one of coach Darryl Sutter's favorite role players. Sutter, known for his shrewd line combinations, likes to see Lewis get rewarded.

"It's good to see Trevor with some offense in his game, meaning numbers, not just offense in terms of shots or scoring chances," Sutter said. "It's good to see him get some numbers and be able to use him a little bit more in situations like that because … it's really hard to play guys double-digit minutes if they're not producing offensively. It's really hard."

The Kings are tied with the Calgary Flames for third in the Pacific Division, which represents the final guaranteed spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but Calgary holds the tiebreaker of having more regulation/overtime wins. The Kings taking it down to the wire again wasn't a surprise to Sutter.

"The League's really close," Sutter said. "We've barely made the playoffs every year that I've been here. Hopefully we'll barely make it again."

Center Jarret Stoll said the notion that the Kings, who have finished sixth, fifth and eighth in the Western Conference the past three years and won the Stanley Cup twice, can turn it on at any time is a fallacy.

"You just can't rely on a switch," Stoll said. "That's not what we're talking about in this room. You can't rely on that. You can't just go back to that and think it's going to happen easy. It's very, very tough."

Montreal did not skate and there was no media availability after it lost to the Anaheim Ducks 3-1 on Wednesday. Goalie Carey Price took the loss and it is reasonable that he could start again, given the short travel. Montreal next plays Saturday at the Arizona Coyotes.

"It's a tough schedule for us," Canadiens coach Michel Therrien said after the game Wednesday. "It's been like that the past 10 days, so we don't have time to practice. We liked the way that we played [Wednesday]. The result was not on our side, but we've got to regroup and play another good team [Thursday]."

The Canadiens are 0-2-0 on their four-game trip and will try to avoid losing three straight for the first time since Dec. 3-6. They are 3-6-2 against the Pacific Division.

Here are the projected lineups:

CANADIENS

Max Pacioretty – David Desharnais – Brendan Gallagher

Alex Galchenyuk – Tomas Plekanec – Dale Weise

Lars Eller - Jacob De La Rose – Devante Smith-Pelly

Brandon Prust – Brian Flynn – Torrey Mitchell

Andrei Markov – P.K. Subban

Tom Gilbert – Jeff Petry

Nathan Beaulieu – Sergei Gonchar

Carey Price

Dustin Tokarski

Injured: Alexei Emelin (shoulder)

Scratched: Mike Weaver, Manny Malhotra, Pierre-Alexandre Parenteau

KINGS

Marian Gaborik – Anze Kopitar – Trevor Lewis

Dwight King – Jeff Carter – Tyler Toffoli

Dustin Brown – Jarret Stoll – Justin Williams

Kyle Clifford – Nick Shore – Jordan Nolan

Robyn Regehr – Drew Doughty

Brayden McNabb – Andrej Sekera

Jake Muzzin – Matt Greene

Jonathan Quick

Martin Jones

Injured: Alec Martinez (concussion symptoms), Tanner Pearson (leg)

Scratched: Andy Andreoff, Jamie McBain

Suspended: Slava Voynov

Status report: Quick was off the ice first … It is unclear if Montreal would make any changes to its lineup.

Who's hot: Markov has assists in three of four games. Desharnais has two goals and two assists in his past four games. Kopitar had his fourth three-point game this season Tuesday, and Lewis set a career-high with three points. Quick has nine wins in his past 11 starts.

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