NHL News

Kings Win 11th In a Row – Quinton Byfield had a pair of goals and an assist, goalie Cam Talbot earned a shutout and the Los Angeles Kings beat the Montreal Canadiens 4-0 Thursday night for their NHL record 11th road victory to start the season.

The Kings (16-4-3), who surpassed the mark of 10 straight road wins set by the Buffalo Sabres back in 2006-07, are one road win away from matching the NHL record of 12 consecutive road victories at any point during the season.

“Normally we’re downplaying achievements, talking about getting to the next game, but I think that we have to acknowledge the group has played really well,” Kings coach Todd McLellan said. “I thought we played a little bit of playoff-type hockey.

“Down the stretch we blocked shots, we managed the clock, we played pucks into areas when we had to, made pretty smart decisions.”

Drew Doughty had a goal and an assist and Trevor Moore also scored for the Kings. Anze Kopitar had three assists and Talbot made 24 saves.

Samuel Montembeault stopped 38 shots and became the first Canadiens goalie to start back-to-back games since Jake Allen on October 21 and 23.

Byfield continued his breakout season after a less than stellar start to his career. The second overall pick in 2020 has eight goals and 13 assists through 23 games this season.

“The confidence is there right now,” Byfield explained as to why has found a rhythm in his fourth season.

McLellan gave credit where it was due.

“I keep giving credit to his linemates and stuff that have pulled him along, but a lot of it came from him, too, and he’s done an outstanding job,” McLellan said. “He looked like a dominant player. Not just tonight, but in a lot of games so far this year.”

The Kings went 1-for-1 on the power play, while the Canadiens failed to register on three man-advantage situations.

Montreal was shut out by Los Angeles for the second time this season. The Kings earned a 4-0 win in Los Angeles on November 25.

And…

Wings’ Kane Returns, Missing Goal in OT Loss – Patrick Kane was by himself, with no defenders in sight, in front of the net with a point-blank shot to score in his debut with the Detroit Red Wings.

Ping.

Kane hit the left post early in the third period and the San Jose Sharks went on to beat the Red Wings 6-5 in overtime Thursday night.

“It would’ve been nice to bury that,” he said.

Kane took his first of 22 shifts at the start of the game and finished with three shots in 16 minutes, 33 seconds of ice time in an intriguing NHL comeback.

The 35-year-old Kane had his right hip surgically repaired six months ago and is attempting to become the third player in the league to return from the invasive procedure.

“Overall, I felt fine,” he said. “I’ll definitely have to build up the timing, the confidence and getting back to trying to take over when you have the puck on your stick and take over games.”

Detroit signed the playmaking wing last week to a prorated $2.75 million contract for the rest of the season to enhance its chances of qualifying for a spot in the playoffs for the first time since 2016.

“It was exciting for the whole group that he decided to join us,” Red Wings forward David Perron said. “It was a big decision, and I’m glad he chose us.”

The three-time Stanley Cup champion with the Chicago Blackhawks and 2016 NHL MVP says he feels significantly better than the previous time he played on May 1 for the New York Rangers against the New Jersey Devils in Game 7 of their first-round playoff series.

Kane is shooting to join Ed Jovanovski and Nicklas Backstrom as NHL players to come back from hip resurfacing surgery. The operation involves dislocating the upper end of the thighbone, trimming it, capping it and removing cartilage before putting it back in place.

“You can look at some players who’ve done it in the past and maybe they’re at the end of their career and it didn’t really work for them,” Kane said. “But I have a lot of optimism about it, and I think you’re going to see more and more players do it.”

Tennis star Andy Murray also had the surgery, providing another source of hope and confidence for Kane.

“He had a couple scopes as well and decided to go to the resurfacing and it seems like he’s had a lot of success,” Kane said. “He’s still playing. I think it’s been maybe three, four years since he’s done the resurfacing, so it seems like it’s been pretty successful for him.”

Kane took a step toward his quest to become a significant NHL player again, lining up at right wing in Detroit’s starting lineup along with center Joe Veleno and former Blackhawks teammate Alex DeBrincat.

“I was a little bit tentative at times, but overall, I pretty good and felt like I was making some plays,” Kane said. “It just felt good to be out there and be playing in the best league in the world again.”

He played 4-plus minutes in the first and had an opportunity to score late in the period, but his wrist shot, his first of three in the game, was stopped by San Jose goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood. In the second period, Kane had a cross-ice pass deflected and sent over the glass and had another shot stopped.

“He looked very comfortable,” Detroit coach Derek Lalonde said. “Obviously, a little rusty.”