The Detroit Red Wings held a morning skate ahead of tonight’s game vs. the Montreal Canadiens (7 PM EST start on Bally Sports Detroit Plus/City TV/Sportsnet East/TVA Sports/97.1 FM), and it appears that Jake Allen and Alex Nedeljkovic will start opposite one another in goal.
After the morning skate, the Red Wings spoke with the media:
Michael Rasmussen’s keys to picking up a win against MTL, after falling to them twice this season: “Stick to our game plan. We have not played to our structure. Can’t give them big chances or looks. Gotta keep playing hard and playing for each other and take care of the puck.”— Carley Johnston (@carleykjohnston) November 13, 2021
Michael Rasmussen says watching Luke Glendening last year has really helped his game #LGRW @DetroitRedWings— Carley Johnston (@carleykjohnston) November 13, 2021
Coach Blashill says he feels this team has helped re-establish the culture of this organization. I couldn’t agree more #LGRW @DetroitRedWings— Carley Johnston (@carleykjohnston) November 13, 2021
TSN 690 Montreal’s Sergio Momesso also said, “Hello”:
#tsn690 little Caesar’s one of the best arena s to broadcast games but still pretty hard to beat the atmosphere at the old Joe Louis pic.twitter.com/HbCWOMkCOP— Sergio Momesso (@SergioMomesso36) November 13, 2021
And TVA Sports’ Renaud Lavoie confirmed that Nedeljkovic is starting tonight:
Alex Nedeljkovic vs @CanadiensMTL @DetroitRedWings @TVASports— Renaud Lavoie (@renlavoietva) November 13, 2021
Among the Montreal Gazette’s Pat Hickey’s game notes are the following:
The matchup: This is the third of four meetings between these teams and the Canadiens won the first two games at the Bell Centre. They won 6-1 on Oct. 23 and 3-0 on Nov. 2. The Canadiens are coming off a 4-2 win over the Calgary Flames on Thursday after losing in overtime to Los Angeles on Tuesday. That marked the first time this season that the Canadiens have earned points in two consecutive games. The Red Wings, who have a 7-6-2 record, were 2-0 losers at home to the Washington Capitals Thursday as former Canadiens prospect Zach Fucale made 21 saves in his NHL debut.
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Suzuki on a roll: Nick Suzuki wasn’t happy with his play in a Halloween loss in Anaheim, but he scored a goal Thursday and also picked up an assist on Ben Chiarot’s opening goal. That put an exclamation point on a strong performance during the Canadiens’ five-game homestand, when he had four goals and five assists. He has four goals and 14 points in 15 games to lead the Canadiens in scoring. Chiarot and Mike Hoffman also have four goals to share the team lead.
Injury updates: The only recent good news for the Canadiens on the injury front is the return of defenceman Mattias Norlinder, who was injured during training camp. There’s no room for him, but he’s expected to see action on this trip because the Canadiens need to determine whether the 21-year-old is ready to play in the NHL. If not, he’s heading back to Frolunda in the Swedish League. Jonathan Drouin (headaches), Cédric Paquette (undisclosed) and Mathieu Perreault (eye) are not expected to play and that means there will be another opportunity for the Laval trio of Alex Belzile, Ryan Poehling and Michael Pezzetta to impress. You have to like Pezzetta because he’s a late-round draft pick who isn’t shy about playing an agitator role.
Bertuzzi the wild-card: Can one player make a difference? The Red Wings hope so as they face Montreal for the first time this season with Tyler Bertuzzi in the lineup. He missed the first two games in Montreal because he has refused to get vaccinated against COVID-19 and is barred from entering Canada. This is a problem for the Wings, who play in a division with Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto. Despite missing three games, Bertuzzi is Detroit’s leading scorer, with nine goals and 15 points. Lucas Raymond has 14 points, including six goals. Dylan Larkin, the Red Wings’ captain, also missed the second game in Montreal. He took a week off to deal with a family emergency. He has four goals and nine points in 11 games.
The Canadiens’ website also sets up tonight’s game with the following:
Montreal is coming off an impressive 4-2 win over the Calgary Flames on Thursday night, closing out their homestand with a solid performance in front of the Bell Centre faithful.
Ben Chiarot, Brendan Gallagher, Nick Suzuki and Jake Evans all scored for the Canadiens, while goaltender Jake Allen turned aside 24 of 26 shots to outduel his counterpart, Jacob Markstrom.
Suzuki delivered another double-digit performance, upping his impressive haul over the last five games to nine points (4 goals, 5 assists).
The 22-year-old center leads Montreal in scoring with 14 points (4 goals, 10 assists), five points clear of veteran winger Tyler Toffoli.
It remains to be seen if Jonathan Drouin will return to the Canadiens’ lineup tonight. Drouin has missed the last four games with headaches after being struck by a puck in the head when the Canadiens and Red Wings clashed on November 2 at the Bell Centre.
The contest could also mark the NHL debut of defenseman Mattias Norlinder, who returned from his conditioning stint with the AHL’s Laval Rocket earlier this week.
