Canadiens vs. Kings Game Preview: Dec. 7, 2023
The Habs are looking to stay hot and beat the Kings tonight.
In case you missed the BIG news THW is now offering all of our great newsletters in one place AND you can subscribe to as many as you want.
We are also making it easier to upgrade to our Premium Subscriptions, which gets you exclusive subscriber-only reports, analysis, long-form commentary, podcasts, video recaps, and much more. AND you can sign up for as many of those as you want FOR ONE LOW PRICE!
Check it all out today!
Welcome to THW Montreal Canadiens Game Preview, where we discuss every upcoming Habs game. Before each contest, we will look at the Canadiens’ projected lineups, notes, and predictions.
In the near future, game previews will only be available to paid subscribers of THW Substack. Get access to all of The Hockey Writers’ premium content, including exclusive subscriber-only reports, analysis, long-form commentary, podcasts, video recaps, and much more… all with one subscription!
Now, let’s get this preview started!
The Canadiens (11-11-3) are going up against the Los Angeles Kings (15-4-3) tonight. The Habs are coming off a strong 4-2 win over the Seattle Kraken and are now looking to keep the momentum going.
The Kings are coming into this game hot as well. They are riding a two-game winning streak with victories over the Colorado Avalanche and Columbus Blue Jackets. They are also currently one of the best teams in the NHL, so the Habs have a tough test in front of them.
Let’s now take a look at the Habs’ projected lineup, game notes, and predictions.
Canadiens’ Projected Lines & Defence Pairings
Caufield - Suzuki - Slafkovsky
Evans - Monahan - Anderson
Pearson - Dvorak - Gallagher
Pezzetta - Stephens - Ylonen
Matheson - Lindstrom
Guhle - Barron
Struble - Kovacevic
Montembeault
Pezzetta In, Armia Out
The Habs’ fourth line will have a different look tonight. Michael Pezzetta will be back in the lineup, while Joel Armia will be scratched.
Coincidentally, Pezzetta has not played since Nov. 25’s contest against the Kings. Yet, now that he is returning, the Habs’ lineup will have a bit more energy and grit tonight. Armia, on the other hand, has two goals in his last four games, but that was not enough for him to avoid this scratch.
Montembeault to Start
After a strong 31-save performance against the Kraken last game, Sam Montembeault is expected to start for the Habs. The recently extended netminder has had over a .900 SV% in each of his last six appearances, winning four of them. Tonight, he has a tough challenge ahead of him against a deep Kings club.
Predictions
Josh Anderson finally scored his first goal of the season last game. Although it took him until the 25th game of the campaign to get there, I think he gets his second goal far quicker and scores again tonight.
Juraj Slafkovsky has hit a bit of a cold streak again, going pointless in his last three games. I think he breaks that tonight with a multi-point effort. He is going to get a lot of playing time on the first line, so let’s see if he takes advantage of it.
Montembeault has been on fire as of late, and I think this will carry over to this big contest against the Kings. Yes, LA has a strong offense, but Montembeault should be able to handle it.
As for a final score prediction, I am going to say that the Canadiens will steal this one with a 3-2 win.
It will be fun to see how the Canadiens perform against the Kings. This has all the makings of being a very entertaining contest.