Rittich, Kings defeat Canadiens to snap 3-game losing streak

MONTREAL -- David Rittich made 26 saves for the Los Angeles Kings, who ended a three-game losing streak with a 4-1 win against the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre on Thursday.

Rittich was making his second consecutive start for the Kings after he allowed four goals on 14 shots and was replaced by Pheonix Copley in the second period of a 6-2 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday.

Mikey Anderson, Alex Laferriere, Andreas Englund and Adrian Kempe scored, and Vladislav Gavrikov had two assists for Los Angeles (2-1-2), which allowed 14 goals in its past two games and was 0-1-2 in its past three.

“[Rittich] was huge for us tonight, just kind of being a backbone back there and us knowing if we break down at all he’s going to bail us out,” Laferriere said. “So, I thought he did an unbelievable job and he was ready to go tonight right from the start.”

Sam Montembeault made 28 saves in his third straight start for Montreal (2-3-0), which was coming off a 6-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Monday.

“I’m definitely disappointed,” Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki said. “I think it was an immature effort from us, especially with them playing yesterday and getting in late. I think we gave them too much life and let them feel comfortable in the game. So, it’s on us to be a lot better than that.”

Montreal went 0-for-5 on the power play and allowed a short-handed goal.

“Our team played really good defense and obviously ‘Ritter’ played unbelievable,” Laferriere said. “But I think it's just our resilience as a team. Our penalty kill was something we wanted to focus on tonight, and I thought they did an unbelievable job tonight keeping them off the scoreboard. So, I think it just goes to show our resilience.”

Justin Barron scored on a wraparound at 7:02 of the first period to give the Canadiens a 1-0 lead.

“We didn’t like that [goal], but the one thing was we felt we were playing really well,” Kings coach Jim Hiller said. “If you’re not playing well and they score first, you’re like, ‘OK, it’s going to take some time to get over this.’ That one, though, down the bench everybody was pretty calm and positive. We knew we were playing well.

“After five or six shifts you get a pretty good sense of, ‘Is your team ready to play and are they going?’ And we were going from the drop of the puck, so we felt we could overcome that.”

Anderson tied it at 1-1 at 18:20 on a slap shot from the left point after Kempe won an offensive-zone draw.

Laferriere gave the Kings a 2-1 lead at 1:37 of the second period, redirecting Jordan Spence’s wrist shot past Montembeault.

Englund made it 3-1 at 17:02 of the third period on a wrist shot from just inside the blue line. Kempe then scored an empty-net goal with 48 seconds remaining and Montreal on the power play for the 4-1 final.

“Our forwards did a great job on the forecheck and backcheck,” Gavrikov said. “They tried to keep it tight and create some turnovers, so that’s how the chances started.”

Lane Hutson played 30:05 for the Canadiens, who were down to five defensemen for the second and third periods after Mike Matheson sustained an upper-body injury.

“Mike is one of the biggest parts of our D-corps,” said Canadiens defenseman David Savard, who played his 800th game on Thursday. “Losing him, he’s playing against top lines, playing power play, and we want him on the ice. Losing him was a big loss, but we’ve got to figure out a way to get the two points even if a player goes out. I think all the guys have to step up and do the job, but obviously losing Mike was big.”

NOTES: The Kings have won seven straight against Montreal, their longest active streak against any team. … Kings forward Kevin Fiala, who scored three goals in his previous two games, shot wide on a penalty shot at 7:10 of the third period after he was hooked by Hutson on a breakaway. … Suzuki has four assists during a three-game point streak.