Montreal holds off Kings in shootout
After struggling for offense throughout their road trip, the Montreal Canadiens finally found a whole bunch of goals Sunday at Staples Center.
So did the Los Angeles Kings, which left goalie Carey Price both frustrated and grateful after a high-volume victory.
“Our team did a good job of getting to Carey Price, not the easiest thing in the world right now,” Kings goalie Peter Budaj said. “A little disappointing. There were, like, one or two I would have liked to have had back. At least we got the point.”
Max Pacioretty had two goals and an assist, and Paul Byron scored the clinching goal in the fourth round of a 5-4 shootout victory against Los Angeles.
Alexander Radulov and Andrew Shaw also scored for the Atlantic Division-leading Canadiens, who earned just their second victory in seven road games. Montreal had only one win in its previous 11 games in California before scoring three times in the four-round shootout.
Before all that, an unusual afternoon home game for the Kings led to a rare goal bonanza: The teams’ combined eight regulation goals — including six in a crazy second period — were the most scored in a game featuring either club in the past month.
“From my perspective, it’s not a great way to go about things,” said Price, who made 27 saves.
“But it doesn’t matter how we get it done, as long as we get it done. We know we have a lot of skill on this team. We have a lot of guys who can finish.”
Montreal finally found its scoring touch on the fourth stop of its five-game road trip.
“When the whole team is playing hard and we get it going, it’s hard to play against us,” Radulov said.
Other games Red Wings 4, Islanders 3:
Danny DeKeyser scored 1:02 into overtime to give Detroit a victory in New York.
Flyers 4, Predators 2: Wayne Simmonds scored two power-play goals as Philadelphia won in Nashville.
Hurricanes 1, Lightning 0: Phillip Di Giuseppe scored his first goal of the season in overtime, giving host Carolina a win against Tampa Bay.
Jets 2, Blackhawks 1: Center iceman Andrew Coop scored in the third period to lead Winnipeg to a close win in Chicago.