Los Angeles Kings at Montreal Canadiens

Rittich, Kings rebound to beat Canadiens 4-1, snap three-game losing streak

Los Angeles improved to 2-1-2 on a season-opening, seven-game trip necessitated by arena renovations.

Rittich rebounded after allowing four goals on 14 shots in a 6-2 loss to the Maple Leafs. Alex Laferriere, Mikey Anderson, Andreas Englund and Adrian Kempe scored.

Justin Barron scored for Montreal (2-3-0). Sam Montembeault stopped 28 shots. He made a save on Kevin Fiala on a penalty shot.

Takeaways Kings: Los Angeles bounced back after allowing a combined 14 goals against Ottawa and Toronto in its last two outings.

Canadiens: The Canadiens played with five defensemen for 40 minutes after Mike Matheson exited the game because of an upper-body injury, with Lane Hutson logging 30:05 in ice-time.

Key moment Laferriere deflected a point shot from Jordan Spencer 1:37 into the second period for his third goal of the season. Alex Turcotte assisted on the goal. Turcotte’s father, Alfie, played 85 games with the Canadiens between 1983 and 1986.

Key stat Los Angeles beat the Canadiens for the seventh consecutive time, including four straight in Montreal.

Up next Kings: At Anaheim on Sunday.

Canadiens: At the New York Islanders on Saturday night.

LA leads series 1-0