Lighting it up in Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES - The Canadiens capped off the California portion of their season-long five-game road trip in style on Sunday afternoon.

Michel Therrien's troops erased three one-goal deficits in regulation time, before riding shootout markers from Brian Flynn, Alexander Radulov and ultimately Paul Byron to a 5-4 victory over the Los Angeles Kings at the STAPLES Center.

The win snapped a two-game losing streak courtesy of a pair of 2-1 losses in Anaheim and San Jose, respectively, before arriving in the City of Angels. It was also the Canadiens' first victory on California soil since March 5, 2014.
"The team definitely hasn't had a lot of success out here, so to get a win here in LA against a big, strong team, who every year competes, it's important for us," said captain Max Pacioretty, who scored his sixth and seventh goals of the season on Sunday. "This is a measuring stick team that I think teams come in and try to see what they have when they play against a team like this. It shows a lot about our character."
Plagued by a lack of offense in recent weeks, the Canadiens certainly got their groove back in the goal-scoring department against the Kings. The last time they'd managed to light the lamp on four occasions in regulation time was back on November 12 in a 5-0 win over Detroit at the Bell Centre, so getting things going again was a long time coming.
And, it all started with the first of Pacioretty's two snipes just 2:30 into the opening frame.
"It was a great character win by our team. Getting that early goal gave our team a lot of momentum, a lot of juice in the game. We gave up a couple back to them, but just kept grinding away and found a way to win," said Byron, referencing a six-goal second period in which the Kings solved Carey Price four times on 12 shots to head to the final frame holding a 4-3 advantage.
Then, it was Andrew Shaw's turn to come up clutch with his third goal in the last five games, putting a loose puck past Kings netminder Peter Budaj to level the scoreline at the 2:03 mark of the period.
"He's doing a lot of good things. That was a big goal. We needed to tie things up as quickly as possible in the third period," said Therrien, referencing Shaw's contributions on offense as of late. "We're seeing the player we want to see more and more as the season goes on. He's been playing some really good hockey lately."

Come shootout time, Byron was ready to deliver when the opportunity presented itself to help the Canadiens exorcise their California demons. With Alex Galchenyuk unavailable to fulfill his usual shootout role after going down with an injury in the third period, Byron fully appreciated the magnitude of the situation he found himself in with a chance to win it on the line.
"It's a big moment. I think all of the guys want to be in that moment, too. I just tried my best to score the goal," said Byron, on the subject of his game-clinching goal. "I'm always ready. With Chucky out, we knew we were a man down. Anyone could go, but I was ready, too."
Now, a date with the Blues awaits on Tuesday night in St. Louis, as the Canadiens try to close out their 12-day, five-city jaunt with another all-important W and put two more points in the bank before heading home.
Getting their goal-scoring mojo on track should put them in the right frame of mind to get the job done against another Western Conference power, who are currently 11-1-3 on home ice.
"The guys showed a lot of tenacity. They put in a great effort," said Therrien. "It's good for their confidence [to score four goals]. Since the start of the trip, we've been seeing a lot of good things. We probably could have had better results, but we never doubted our work ethic. The guys played with a lot of energy."