With a strong showing against the Rangers, and a flop against Pittsburgh, the Montreal Canadiens hoped to find some consistency on what has traditionally been a problematic California road trip. Moreover, with Carey Price within one win of Jacques Plante and first place, and the faltering Los Angeles Kings at the other end of the ice, they wanted to get off to a good start.
Jordan Weal got the first good look of the game against one of his former teams, but it was Brendan Gallagher who tipped in a great shot from Victor Mete for his 30th of the season less than four minutes in.