Russell Morgan 
The LA Kings continued their six-game road trip notching another two points against the Canadiens in Montreal.
Goal Breakdown
1st period:
LAK: Anze Kopitar (8), ASST: Kevin Fiala (22)
LAK: Viktor Arvidsson (8), ASST: Phillip Danault (13), Mikey Anderson (5)
2nd period:
No goals
3rd period:
LAK: Alex Edler (1), ASST: Blake Lizotte (6)
MTL: Mike Hoffman (6), ASST: Kaiden Guhle (10), Evgeni Dadonov (3)
MTL: Cole Caufield (16), ASST: Jordan Harris (7), Christian Dvorak (7)
LAK: ENG Adrian Kempe (9), Unassisted
Hard fought two points
The LA Kings have become a pretty good team when it comes to closing out games with the lead. After last night’s win, the Kings improve to 11-1-0 when leading after two periods. While the third period saw Montreal produce a valiant effort to make the game unnecessarily close, LA fought back and still managed to come away with two points.
For a coaching staff begging for some consistency, a 2-1 start to the road trip are the baby steps the team needs. It’s been one step forward and one step back almost all season. A good way to quell some of that inconsistency talk would be to win tonight’s game against the woeful Columbus Blue Jackets.
Kevin Fiala: Everything as advertised
When the Kings acquired Kevin Fiala from the Minnesota Wild they thought they had filled that scoring wing spot that has eluded them for so long. After a rough start to the season for Fiala, he’s starting to gain his stride. With 31 points in 30 games so far, he’s been everything as advertised playing for LA.
Fiala is an impact player, plain and simple. We’ve seen his elite vision come to play on numerous occasions already this year. And that was never more evident than in last night’s game on Anze Kopitar‘s goal.
Captain doing Captain things pic.twitter.com/jzDT0pyEc8
— LA Kings (@LAKings) December 11, 2022
Rise of the Pheonix
The Kings are looking for any answers for their struggling goaltending. And they may have found a band-aid in the North Pole, Alaska native Pheonix Copley. While he wasn’t tested by a ton of volume from Montreal, he still made the necessary saves to preserve two points for the LA Kings. That’s what’s needed right now. LA doesn’t need their goaltenders to steal games, they just need them to keep them in games. Pheonix is doing exactly that.
UP NEXT: The Kings are back at it tonight in Columbus on the second leg of a back-to-back at 3:00 pm PT.
Featured image: (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press)