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The Montreal Canadiens can at least take solace in the fact that they won’t meet the Los Angeles Kings again this season.

After losing 4-0 in Los Angeles last month, the Habs delivered a repeat performance in a 4-0 loss against the Kings at the Bell Centre on Thursday.

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The Habs were outshot 42-24, including a dominant third period for the Kings where they outshot Montreal 16-4. Sam Montembeault made 38 saves in the losing effort in a rare consecutive start for a Habs netminder.

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As for the Kings, they won their 11th consecutive game on the road to start the season. They got things going early with two first-period goals. Drew Doughty had the first, after he joined the rush and waited out Montembeault.

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If Habs fans are feeling impatient about the development of first overall pick Juraj Slafkovsky, they can only look at the progression of fellow big man Quinton Byfield as a beacon of hope. The second overall pick in 2020 had 33 points in 99 games coming into the season, but with two goals last night he’s up to 21 points in 23 games this campaign. Byfield used his size and speed to make Kaiden Guhle look foolish for his seventh goal.

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Byfield scored again in the second period to give Los Angeles a 3-0 lead, but this time it required being in the right spot near the side of the net. The power play goal gave the Kings a commanding lead.

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In the third period, Trevor Moore took advantage of Justin Barron getting tangled up with the linesman to get behind everyone. He beat Montembeault glove side on his clean breakaway to give the Kings a 4-0 advantage. Michael Pezzetta, a healthy scratch since Nov. 25, dropped the gloves with Andreas Englund in the dying moments of the contest.

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Not surprisingly, most of the Habs landed in the minus column on Hockey Stats Cards’ impact card. Guhle especially had a rough night. At forward, Slafkovsky was arguably the best of a bad bunch thanks to a couple of missed scoring chances in the first.

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If there’s anything the Habs can learn from the Kings, it’s that you can never be too strong up the middle. They already had the ageless Anze Kopitar and familiar face Phillip Danault, but this offseason made a big splash by acquiring Pierre-Luc Dubois from the Winnipeg Jets. The way the Kings are set up, they can play a stifling 1-3-1 defence system, but also fire 40+ shots on an opposing goalie. You’ll win a lot of games with that combination.

Needless to say, the liveblog commenters weren’t happy about sitting through that stinker. So far, the Habs have held their own against teams at or slightly above their station, but against a presumed Cup contender like Los Angeles, you can see why one team is perfect on the road and another is bound for another lottery pick.

3. “Good first and rang the iron twice couldn’t finish and LA makes you pay!” — Five Wings

2. “I still think they have a problem playing a full 60. Two shots in the 3rd period is inexcusable.” — Mx Gray

1. “Now I understand why we had to pay them.” — John Galt

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