Bell Centre Ice Battle: Montreal Canadiens vs Los Angeles Kings
As the Montreal Canadiens gear up to host the Los Angeles Kings at the Bell Centre, fans are buzzing with anticipation. The Habs have shown a mixed bag of performances in their recent outings, but there's reason to believe they could turn the tide in their favor for this upcoming game.
Looking back at their last game on December 5th against the Seattle Kraken, MTL displayed a solid offensive effort with 4 goals on 30 shots and an impressive shooting percentage of 13 percent. Their power play capitalized on its single opportunity, which is a promising sign against LA's penalty kill unit. Defensively, they were stout as well; blocking 21 shots and winning over half of their faceoffs indicates good control over the puck.
However, it wasn't all smooth sailing for MTL. They gave away possession 10 times and only managed to take it away four times from Seattle. This kind of giveaway-takeaway ratio will need improvement if they want to keep LA from capitalizing on turnovers.
The Canadiens' goaltending was particularly strong during that match with a save percentage of nearly 94 percent at even strength. This level of performance between the pipes will be crucial when facing off against an LA team that can be quite aggressive in front of goal.
In contrast, when looking at MTL's game against Detroit Red Wings on December 3rd, we see some areas for concern – particularly in overtime where they lost despite scoring twice in the third period to push the game beyond regulation time. Their power play had more opportunities than against Seattle but only converted once out of five chances – an area that needs tightening up.
The Habs' most recent loss came against Florida Panthers on December 1st where they were outscored significantly in both goals and shooting percentage; however, it’s worth noting that MTL won faceoffs more frequently than not and had better luck blocking shots compared to Florida.
With these past performances as context, what can fans expect? The Canadiens have demonstrated resilience and an ability to bounce back which suggests this matchup could go either way. However, if MTL can maintain strong goaltending while tightening up their special teams play and managing puck possession better than recent games suggest – there’s every chance they could skate away with a win come game night.
MTL fans should mark their calendars for December 8th when these two teams clash at Bell Centre starting at midnight Eastern Time (ET). For those who cannot attend live can catch all action via broadcast networks BSW (channel:692) or stream online through ESPN+.