The Montreal Canadiens came into Saturday’s game with six straight wins over the LA Kings, dating back to March 2004.
Make it seven.
After coming out of the gate firing, including outshooting the Habs 14-5 in the first period, LA put it on cruise control. Montreal ended the game tied in shots 27-27. More importantly, they picked up a 2-1 win.
Here’s what they were saying after the game…
Coach Jacques Martin on the overall game – “I thought we had a good effort. I thought the last two games we’ve played extremely well. In San Jose we only came out with just one point, but I felt we could have had a better fate. It wasn’t a lack of work. It thought that we executed pretty good today against another top team; a big team that’s physical. I thought we used our speed and quickness to our advantage…I think the last two games I liked our third periods… I thought our power play was good. We scored one goal but we also created some good scoring chances.”
Forward Brian Gionta on the overall game – “They [the Kings] had a lot of shots on the power play in the first period. So it’s [shots on goal in first period] was a little deceiving, but for sure we got better as the game went on, and in the second and third I thought we overtook the play… It’s [the win] big. Obviously the last six games or so we’ve been struggling a bit so today here was a pretty good effort for us.”
Gionta on getting three points on the road trip – “It’s certainly better than one point. At the end of the trip we got much better. It was a big trip for us that could turn things around and hopefully we start doing that.”
Goaltender Carey Price on the overall game – “It’s huge. Obviously we weren’t having the best road trip. We needed to get that win and we needed the points right now. We need a lot right now. We just need to keep plugging away.”
Price on the Kings – “They’re a team that goes to the net pretty hard. That’s what you have got to do to score goals in this league. You got to get guys going to the net…I thought our guys did a really good job of playing defense today.”
Quotes from the Kings are up on the MayorsManor homepage right now – including Simon Gagne (link), Jarret Stoll on the missed penalty (link) and coach Terry Murray on the play of Dustin Penner (link).
The Mayor
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