The Detroit Red Wings attempted to make history on Saturday night, kicking off a back-to-back set of road games opposite the 0-and-5 Montreal Canadiens.
No Stanley Cup Finalist had ever opened the season 0-and-6, so the Red Wings had the opportunity to push their historic rival to a new low before turning tail and heading to Chicago to play the Blackhawks.
On Saturday night, without Tyler Bertuzzi or Filip Hronek in the lineup, the Red Wings very disappointingly fell into the Canadiens’ trap, scoring the game’s first goal, and then surrendering 5 markers in only 15:44 of ice time as Montreal broke its winless streak at Detroit’s expense, ultimately winning 6-1.
This one was truly ugly, and it was truly infuriating, too, because, Bertuzzi or no Bertuzzi, Hronek or no Hronek, the Red Wings should have seen it coming, and for whatever reason, they could not or would not imagine that the Canadiens could rout them so very easily. It was a failure of imagination as much as a failure of execution (which is on the team more than the coaching staff), and…
It’s not time to panic–Detroit is now 2-2-and-1 on a very young season–but this game is a matter of concern, to be certain.
The Red Wings and Habs iced the following lines:
Lineup in Montréal.#DETvsMTL x #LGRW pic.twitter.com/ALXkaULRW8— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) October 23, 2021
La formation de ce soir.
Tonight’s lineup.#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/KXuAxLYkfc— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) October 23, 2021
The starting lineups consisted of the following:
In the 1st period…Michael Rasmussen faced off opposite Nick Suzuki, the Wings won the draw and chipped and chased…a puck that was tipped out of play.
So Rasmussen and Suzuki drew in again, chipped and chased again, and afforded the Canadiens a basic offensive cycle in the Wings’ zone, starting scrambly.
40 seconds in, the Wings changed their lines, as did Montreal, and Larkin’s line opposed Drouin and company, battling the puck into the Canadiens’ zone. Raymond, Seider, Larkin and Fabbri cycled, regrouped, and went off for a change;
Stecher boobled the puck and nearly got into trouble, and Tyler Toffoli ripped a shot wide of the net, Montreal regrouped, and Cole Caufield almost jabbed in the game’s first marker, but the puck slid wide of the net;
Detroit’s third line headed toward the bench a little flustered…
And the Wings gave up a 2-on-1, with Artturi Lehkonen sending the first shot in on Greiss at 2:29.
At the other end, Seider ripped a heavy shot wide with Smith, Rowney and Stephens forechecking well…
Namestnikov fed Seider for a scoring chance that fluttered wide of the net…
And some 3:30 into the 1st, Detroit and Montreal settled in for a fast but grinding affair.
Josh Anderson rushed in vs. Staal, but he was steered wide by the Red wings’ defenseman;
Christian Dvorak fired a backhand wide of the net;
Staal and the Larkin line got backed in fairly significantly, but they worked the puck into Montreal’s zone, and Fabbri jabbed the puck around Allen’s net, but he did not generate a shot;
Caufield skated the other way and deked and dangled, but did not convert;
Suter found Erne skating in, and Allen made a HUGE STOP on the one-on-none rush…
And Moritz Seider was tripped by Ben Chiarot at 5:18…
And Dylan Larkin won the faceoff back to Moritz Seider, got the puck back from #53, and Larkin ripped a high, heavy shot off the goalpost and in, giving the Red Wings their first goal.
CAPTAIN SNIPE #LGRW pic.twitter.com/xWvEOjvpjj— Nolan Bianchi (@nolanbianchi) October 23, 2021
Captain Dylan Larkin gets the very quick score on the power play, just 15 seconds in. One assist to Moritz Seider, the fourth point for the rookie defenseman. #LGRW pic.twitter.com/wfJjFjPmzO— Bally Sports Detroit (@BallySportsDET) October 23, 2021
Snip. @Dylanlarkin39 | #LGRW pic.twitter.com/bq3zQfvpmF— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) October 23, 2021
53 → 71. #LGRW pic.twitter.com/YXa2u6qP3X— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) October 23, 2021
Dylan Larkin scored the 1-0 goal at 5:25 of the 1st, from Moritz Seider.
The Rasmussen line got a lot of ice time early on in the 1st period, and they gave the Canadiens a rough ride after Gustav Lindstrom was felled rather dirtiliy, so Detroit cycled and ground the puck away from their net, and Namestnikov did a great job of pushing himself out from the corner toward the front of the net, where he jabbed the puck into Allen;
Larkin, Gagner and Fabbri cycled as well, affording Detroit some good offensive zone time some 7:35 into the 1st;
The Zadina-Suter-Erne line did a fine job of nearly scoring as well, with Suter missing a between-the-legs pass that would have gone into the open net had he corralled the pass…
And by the time the first TV timeout hit at 8:45, the Canadiens were flummoxed and flustered by Detroit’s pressure.
At 8:45, the shots were 3-2 Montreal, but the attempts were tied 7-7.
When play resumed, Detroit generated another good shot off the faceoff as Danny DeKeyser ripped a rifle blast in on Allen;
Montreal’s Armia tripped DeKeyser and generated a scoring chance for Lehkonen, but the Wings were able to escape without surrendering a goal;
Staal rushed up ice, was blocked off, but arguably generated a scoring chance working with his usual defensive partner in Troy Stecher;
And the crowd was out of the game in Montreal, cheering just about anything they possibly could in a dead arena…
Some 10 minutes into the 1st, Detroit’s Larkin line stole the puck in the offensive zone, Larkin was tripped, and Moritz Seider got to an icing call first, but the refs negated the clear icing, and Montreal tried to set up in the Wings’ zone, but Lucas Raymond did a fine job of clearing the zone;
Jonathan Drouin’s line generated a scoring chance, and Zadina and Erne raced the other way, with Erne hitting the goalpost…
Zadina and Erne on the rush is a lethal combo #LGRW pic.twitter.com/Id32zaXacb— Nolan Bianchi (@nolanbianchi) October 23, 2021
But Gustav Lindstrom, who’s played fine hockey thus far, tripped Jonathan Drouin in the offensive zone, and Lindstrom headed off to the penalty box at 11:18, affording Montreal a power play.
On the penalty-kill, Detroit won the first faceoff and cleared the zone easily, Montreal recoiled and re-set, DeKeyser, Namestnikov and Rasmussen cleared the puck a second time, and the Wings headed off for a change;
1:00 into the PK, Montreal was stifled by the second unit, with Mitchell Stephens clearing the puck right on the Habs’ goal;
1:40 into the PK, Stecher, Staal, Stephens and Gagner were backed in by a cycling Canadiens team, and Greiss made a big stop;
Cole Caufield’s shot was blocked by Sam Gagner;
And Lindstrom iced the puck as he came out of the box.
The Larkin line did get backed in post-PK, but Lucas Raymond of all people did a great job of working defensively…
But the Red Wings turned the puck over, Stecher was tied up by Mathieu Perreault, and Drouin fed Chiarot racing in from the point.
Gros but de Big Ben.
Big Ben with the big goal. #GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/f7Go9gtYhZ— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) October 23, 2021
Ok, mais cette passe de Drouin.
That pass by Jo tho. #GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/VYBqrf8PEq— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) October 24, 2021
Chiarot made no mistake on the Drouin pass, roofing a 1-1 goal over Greiss–and Perreault and Stecher–at 14:10.
The goal read Chiarot from Drouin and David Savard.
Worse, Danny DeKeyser took a dumb penalty for tripping a Hab at the Canadiens’ blueline at 15:38, affording Montreal its second power play of the period.
On the penalty-kill, Detroit won the initial faceoff and cleared the zone;
Gagner, Stephens, Lindstrom and Staal worked the Habs as hard as the Habs worked the perimeter..
But Marc Staal both blocked Thomas Greiss and possibly tipped Mike Hoffman’s shot, and Hoffman scored the Habs’ 2-1 goal in a hurry.
Le premier de Mike Hoffman avec les Canadiens!
Mike Hoffman snipes it for his first as a Hab!#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/uAlzkbKIUq— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) October 23, 2021
MIKE H?FFMAN. #GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/lpsxdapSQ2— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) October 23, 2021
Hoffman scored from Niku at 16:15, making it 2-1 Montreal.
Even worse, Filip Zadina high-sticked Jeff Petry, yielding another power play for the Canadiens with 3:08 remaining in the 1st.
On the PK, Gagner, Stephens, DeKeyser and Lindstrom got scrambled, Montreal scrummed for the puck, and Detroit cleared, but could not push the puck too far from their net;
Gagner gave the Wings the clear they needed some 45 seconds into the PK, and Detroit did a better job of battling Montreal’s relentless attack thereafter…
Greiss made a HUGE STOP on Caufield with 50 seconds remaining on the PK;
Suzuki deked and dangled his way into the slot, but Greiss stifled him…
Cole Caufield was blocked in the latter part of the PK, and after Gallagher jammed the side of the net, Zadina came out of the box, Detroit attempted to limp their way toward the locker room, and they were able to do so because Larkin, Namestnikov and Fabbri had a good final shift…
Seider stole the puck to Larkin, and Detroit actually came fairly close to scoring before the period finally expired.
Good start but need to stay out of the box moving forward. #LGRW pic.twitter.com/yjSoAuDWbY— Bally Sports Detroit (@BallySportsDET) October 23, 2021
Stats through the first 20 minutes of play. #DETvsMTL pic.twitter.com/N0k3rjyEwz— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) October 23, 2021
2nd coming up. #DETvsMTL #LGRW
?: @BallySportsDET
?: @971theticketxyt pic.twitter.com/UJwcsmu7Xn— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) October 24, 2021
In the 2nd period…Detroit faced some adversity–caused by Detroit’s own penchant for taking penalties–and the Wings faced a raucous Bell Centre crowd as well entering the 2nd period.
The Rasmussen line started the 2nd period, lost their initial draw, and took advantage of a Canadiens icing penalty, winning the draw and firing a shot wide of Allen that the Wings cycled and ground deep, and then back to DeKeyser for the period’s first shot on Jake Allen some 20 seconds into the 2nd period.
On a 3-on-1 against, Thomas Greiss made a HUGE stop on Mike Hoffman…with only Gustav Lindstrom not over-committing to “cheating” on the puck…
When the Wings got to their feet, as it were, Detroit did an OK job of battling the Canadiens physically, but Montreal’s speed through center ice was a problem, and Montreal was generating a lot of zone time and chances as a result.
Some 2:15 into the 2nd, the Zadina-Suter-Erne line looked good defensively, but they were a mess in the offensive zone, and they over-committed offensively, affording Montreal a massive scoring chance that Perreault fired wide;
David Savard and Alexei Romanov nearly cycled the puck into a big scoring chance on the Habs’ offensive blueline;
And Staal and Stecher were left on the ice 4-on-2 with a TERRIBLE line change, and as the Habs played catch, Marc Staal inadvertently put the puck into his own net, giving Montreal a 3-1 lead.
Au tour de Christian Dvorak de marquer son premier avec Montréal!
Christian Dvorak’s turn to get his first as a Hab!#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/cOz5pFcQw6— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) October 24, 2021
Christian Dvorak got credit for the 3-1 goal, from Sami Niku and Jonathan Drouin, at 3:17 of the 2nd period.
On the bump-up shift, Detroit’s Moritz Seider blasted a heavy shot wide of the net…
But Montreal’s Artturi Lehkonen got tagged for high-sticking Rasmussen, and the Wings headed to the power play at 4:47.
On the power play, Sam Gagner almost scored a couple of times on a down-low pass from Larkin;
Larkin himself fired a shot on Allen that was stopped with a BANG;
Detroit regrouped, Erne and Gagner could not score, but Larkin, Seider and Raymond worked the perimeter, Erne and Larkin worked the puck again, and Raymond worked it down low and back to Seider, Dettroit cycled, but did not shoot until Raymond fired a puck wide, and Montreal cleared with 45 left in the PK due to an unwillingness to JUST SHOOT THE PUCK.
On the 2nd unit, Seider went off for Zadina, he charged up and Leddy blocked off Jake Evans at the Wings’ line as Detroit got crossed up–cheating toward offense again–and that all but negated the Wings’ power play as Nick Leddy ran into Rasmussen at the offensive blueline.
That was it for the power play.
Worse on top of worser, Mitchell Stephens fired the puck off his linemate’s skate, Perreault swiped the puck, skated in against Greiss and Lindstrom, and he fired a shot through the Wings’ beleagured netminder.
Un AUTRE premier but! Bienvenue à Montréal, Mathieu Perreault!
ANOTHER first goal! Welcome to Montreal, Mathieu Perreault!#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/KNBVvP3D0G— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) October 24, 2021
And YOU get your first Habs goal… and YOU get your first Habs goal…
Oh and you too, Mathieu Perreault. ??? #NHLonSN pic.twitter.com/lvk9Xt9q0H— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) October 24, 2021
Perreault scored at 7:45 of the 2nd to make it 4-1, unassisted.
Detroit called timeout as the Canadiens had scored 4 unanswered goals.
The Wings just looked bad after the timeout, affording Montreal far too much time and space, and Greiss had to make some big stops before the TV timeout finally hit at 9:38.
Detroit was only being out-shot 5-3 in the 2nd and 15-7 overall, but the attempts were a staggering
When play resumed, Greiss had to make a couple more stops…
But Caufield found Perreault as the Habs got Greiss moving from right to left and left to right, and Perreault scored on a bouncing puck that got away from Lindstrom and DeKeyser to make it 5-1.
Encore Mathieu Perreault!! 5-1 MONTRÉAL!!#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/BWjUAcRBMk— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) October 24, 2021
Perreault’s goal was assisted by Tyler Toffoli and Cole Caufield at 9:59, making it 5-1.
Thomas Greiss was pulled and Alex Nedeljkovic took over.
According to Ken Daniels, the Canadiens scored 5 goals in 15:44, and that’s bad any way you look at it.
By the time the next TV timeout hit at 11:55, Montreal was out-shooting Detroit 8-6 in the 2nd, 16-10 overall, and the attempts were 37-24.
Long story long, it wasn’t only Danny DeKeyser’s fault.
Detroit looked a bit shell shocked and really went through the motions throughout the 2nd period–as you might expect–and the Habs were just cycling and cycling and grinding and grinding, without much of a response from anybody not named Seider.
What scared me is how easily the Red Wings were willing to allow Nedeljkovic to have to sink or swim on his own, and Nedeljkovic made some big stops as a result…
But you don’t want to see the Habs nearly score so many times.
Tyler Toffoli was fed by Caufield for an “almost” that went wide of the goal…
But Robby Fabbri was pulled down by Christian Dvorak with 32.1 left in the 2nd, off some really good work by Larkin and Leddy, and Detroit nearly scored on a chance by Michael Rasmussen…
Before giving up a shorthanded 2-on-1 in which Lehkonen fired a shot wide of Nedeljkovic instead of scoring the 6-1 goal.
It was one of those nights, indeed.
#RedWings will start the third with time left on the man-advantage. #LGRW pic.twitter.com/oZ7F44LB79— Bally Sports Detroit (@BallySportsDET) October 24, 2021
After 40. #DETvsMTL pic.twitter.com/yENR8lkSZ1— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) October 24, 2021
In the 3rd period…Detroit started the Larkin line, and they lost the opening draw to the Canadiens, who chipped and chased, though Raymond and Larkin did work the puck back deep in the Canadiens’ zone on the power play.
Raymond, Larkin, Fabbri, Seider and Erne cycled the puck around the perimeter…But Seider could not keep the puck in, and the Wings changed units a minute into the 3rd period.
Suter, Leddy, Stecher, Gagner and Zadina worked the puck deep, but Stecher, playing on the flank, flubbed the puck twice, and that was the power play.
After the power play expired, Montreal mostly had its way with the Wings.
Even when Givani Smith tried to break away from Montreal’s defense, they easily caught up with him, and Detroit looked to be a step slow mentally as well as physically as the 3rd period progressed.
The period was perhaps symbolized by Nick Leddy surrendering a Grade-A scoring chance to pass the puck to Lucas Raymond, who was standing at an impossible angle on Allen. There was no way that Raymond could score from his position, but Leddy gave the puck to him anyway.
Detroit was far too cute, too precise, too aesthetically-pleasingly-aggravating, and the Wings’ inability or unwillingness to directly attack the Habs’ net was costing them the game.
Over and over again.
Also representing the game was Givani Smith, who took a stupid penalty trying to defend Danny DeKeyser after he was bumped into the Habs’ bench door. Smith sat at 6:16, affording Montreal a fifth power play.
The Beautiful Game pic.twitter.com/ZR1SlBtvFo— Scott Matla (@scottmatla) October 24, 2021
On the penalty-kill, Detroit won the opening faceoff, clearing the zone;
Montreal then set up in Detroit’s zone, cycling around the perimeter, and Suzuki and Caufield tried to set up Perreault for a hat trick.
The Habs’ fans had the gall to boo the power play for not scoring, and it did not score, thankfully.
After the penalty-kill expired, Detroit was still somewhat shell-shocked, making bad decisions with and without the puck, and there was little to cheer about, unless you were a Canadiens fan chanting, “Ole, ole ole ole!”
Detroit just played perimeter hockey, struggling to generate any sort of sustained attack through the middle of the ice, and that’s what stuck with me–the Habs had speed up the middle, and Detroit did not.
Dylan Larkin had to stop a 2-on-1 (and he did) with about 8 minutes remaining;
Detroit pulled Nedeljkovic for some baffling reason with about 7 minutes remaining…
And Perreault scored his hat trick goal with 6:44 remaining.
Matty Hatty!! ?#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/h6ZO5VK62I— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) October 24, 2021
Perreault made it 6-1, from Chiarot, at 13:16. Natural hat trick.
That’s about it for my commentary, save the fact that Namestnikov got cross-checked with impunity by a Hab with about 5:45 remaining;
Pius Suter nearly got his leg taken off in a knee-on-knee collision with 4:10 remaining;
Gustav Lindstrom did make a nice check to push Gallagher off the puck without taking a penalty;
Moritz Seider blocked off a would-be breakaway pass with 2:30 left;
Detroit WAS able to start a forecheck some 17 minutes into the 3rd period, but it was a forecheck, after all…
Adam Erne leveled Jake Evans quite late in the game;
And the night was mercifully over quite quickly, with the game ending before 9:40 PM.
Raymond almost set up Fabbri for a goal before it was over, but Jake Allen made a good stop.
And that was that.
Final. pic.twitter.com/1WeK8C2klK— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) October 24, 2021
Back at it tomorrow night in Chicago for the rivalry game. #LGRW pic.twitter.com/Owmx74av2r— Bally Sports Detroit (@BallySportsDET) October 24, 2021
Road trip continues tomorrow in Chicago. pic.twitter.com/B6gGSE87hu— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) October 24, 2021
Statistics: Here are the Game Summary and Event Summary:
WTF is this? On the 2nd unit, Seider went off for Zadina, he charged up and Leddy blocked off Jake Evans at the Wings’ line as Detroit got crossed up–cheating toward offense again–and that all but negated the Wings’ power play as Nick Leddy ran into Rasmussen at the offensive blueline.
Actually a Typo, the team didn’t do this Brain Fart whatever, Blashill did
Detroit pulled Nedeljkovic for some baffling reason with about 7 minutes remaining…
This tells you how poor the ole , frogs, ole are, Nary even a close goal
Goalie Ned was getting bored so he put on a “How to handle the puck Clinic for Goalies”” In the 3rd anyway, his passes, clearings were perfect. He has fast movements in the net. Maybe too fast. With Greiss it is hard to tell, Greiss seems to not to be able slide post to post, it slowly turns turns into a “Where did Griess Go Moment or more”. But he eventually he returns, close of enough for the Camera to get him in focus. Hronek is a leading mins Dman who produces scoring chances for a mostly young forward crew. The Selfish , say a team mate forward on the top line, should go away. What is Blashil supposed to say? Bert gets to do want he wants. It does not matter how good or bad he is. “He has to be a GOOD Team Mate” It did not seem to take very long for StevieY to guage the worth of little B to other Teams. I would bet some team mates want to grab him by the neck and explain what a team mate is. He certainly does not give me the sense of being an intellectual.
The rest of the 3rd was a lot of skating back and forth until they lose the puck, which usually happened often. Not much emotion
I don’t get that Quebec stays included in Canada, OleOLe, I will counter with Frog Frog. It is like Bert thinking he can do anything that he wants. Will Gavin learn what Blashill wants as a low min player with the Wings or as a regular with GR?
The 3rd was an amazing revelation of what Seider could do at 20 years of age. He does things that he feels are best seemingly without slowing down and they generally end up as successful. Fans in Detroit are spoiled , getting to watch Lids now MO53 and watching to see if he can be better? Personally it will be a close call but MO53 has a chance. he just makes the game more exciting and fun to watch. Why not, he is 20 years old?
Is using “Smoked Meat” allowed with people who own all the Casinos, Present from our taxes in the USA and Canada