Juraj Slafkovsky had two goals and an assist for the visiting Montreal Canadiens in a 4-3 comeback win against the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday evening.
Nick Suzuki notched a goal and two assists, Jake Evans also scored and Jakub Dobes made 36 saves for the Canadiens, who were coming off a 6-5 shootout loss at the Anaheim Ducks on Friday night.
Scott Laughton scored in his first game with the Kings, who are 2-4-0 since the Olympic break. Los Angeles acquired Laughton from the Toronto Maple Leafs at Friday’s trade deadline.
Anze Kopitar and Alex Laferriere also scored, Brandt Clarke had two assists and Darcy Kuemper made 19 saves for Los Angeles.
The Kings moved ahead 3-2 at 6:44 of the third when Laferriere scored a rebound after Dobes made a save on Clarke’s shot from the left point.
Slafkovsky tied it 3-3 with a one-timer from the right circle while on a power play at 14:38, then Suzuki moved the Canadiens ahead with a one-timer from the right circle at 15:27.
The Kings outshot the Canadiens 16-1 in the first period, but could only generate a 1-0 lead.
That goal came after Artemi Panarin won a battle for the puck against Mike Matheson as they came across the Montreal blue line. Adrian Kempe came from behind and retrieved the loose puck above the right circle, feeding Kopitar at the far post for the redirection and a 1-0 lead at 14:12.
The Kings briefly thought they scored again on a goal by Samuel Helenius just as teammate Jeff Malott crashed into Dobes at 15:59 of the first, but the goal was waived off for goalie interference and a hooking penalty was called on Montreal defenseman Arber Xhekaj.
The Kings had three power plays in the first period, leading to the lopsided shot total.
The Canadiens scored on just their third shot of the game to tie it 1-1 at 3:09 of the second.
Kirby Dach passed the puck from below the goal line to Evans above the left circle. He faked a couple shots before shooting the puck through traffic and into the net.
The Canadiens moved ahead 2-1 at 15:41 of the second when Slafkovsky carried the puck off the wall, above the left circle and in between the hash marks before beating Kuemper with a wrist shot.
Laughton scored after the Kings dumped the puck into the Montreal zone. Jared Wright got to it first for Los Angeles and backhanded the puck to Laughton just above the goal line. He spun and banked the puck off the far pad of Dobes and across the goal line to make it 2-2 at 17:31 of the first.
