Red Wings-Canadiens quick take: Wings ‘get hustled’ by Montreal

The Detroit Red Wings hosted a Montreal Canadiens team that sat only 3 points behind the Wings in the Atlantic Division standings prior to tonight’s game, and the teams will go back at it tomorrow night in Montreal.

On Friday night, at Little Caesars Arena, the Red Wings were robbed of their 3-point lead by a plucky, tenacious Canadiens team that earned 1-0, 2-1 and 4-3 leads en route to a 4-3 victory for the Habs.

Cam Talbot was not as sharp as possible in stopping 29 of 33 shots, but he got little to no help in terms of deflections–like Patrik Laine’s one-timer that shattered Moritz Seider’s stick and beat Talbot–and the 0-for-4 power play, surrendering of a shorthanded goal against and 1-for-2 Habs PP yielded a major special teams loss.

Very long story long, tomorrow night’s game in Montreal becomes a must-win if the Wings are to not be passed by Montreal in the standings, and after getting out-worked by a significant margin tonight, Detroit has to earn their way back toward respectability here more than anything.

Pre-game warmups: Cam Talbot led the Red Wings out of the locker room and onto the ice at Little Caesars Arena at 6:30 PM…

While Samuel Montembeault led out the Canadiens…

The Canadiens’ roster looked like this…

The Red Wings lined up as follows…

And the teams utilized the following lineups, starters in bold, scratches listed as well, with Patrick Kane wearing the “A”:

1st period: Joe Veleno, Marco Kasper and Christian Fischer started up front for Detroit, with Albert Johansson and Erik Gustafsson on defense, and Cam Talbot started in goal, all opposite the Habs’ 4th line of Heineman, Evans and Armia, new acquisition Alexandre Carrier on defense with Kaiden Guhle, and Sam Montembeault in goal.

Kasper and Heineman drew in for the opening faceoff, the Habs mucked it back to their defense and chipped and chased, with Gustafsson turning the puck over, and Talbot stopping Heineman, and then Evans as the Wings got hemmed in some 40 seconds into the 1st, when the Wings changed lines for the first time.

The Lakrin line afforded the Habs a dump-and-charge-the-goalie play before taking a deep offensive zone faceoff that Compher lost, and the puck went out of play, affording Detroit another faceoff 1:04 in;

Compher won the next draw, and Motte and Rasmussen broke out, cycled to Chiarot and Montembeault had to stop Chiarot’s long shot.

1:40 in, the Larkin line returned to the ice, and Alexandre Carrier got a long shot in on Talbot, who made the blueline-to-goal stop;

And Andrew Copp won the defensive zone draw, but his line was hemmed in by the Canadiens before breaking out shallowly and defending again as Gallagher was hit by Holl, and Gallagher then brought the puck to the front of the net and nearly scored.

The four-line rotation completed by 3:30 of the 1st, and Chiarot sent Larkin a drop pass that nearly worked;

The Larkin line cycled well around the perimeter once and twice, but Dach cleared the zone and Detroit changed;

Fischer got a blocker shot in on Montembeault;

Marco Kasper was tripped by Armia in the Wings’ zone, but there was no call, and the non-call led to a Habs scoring chance;

Montreal was just taking Detroit’s time and space away, and attacking and defending with pace and pressure, and so Detroit played the first 5 minutes of play on their back foot, giving up 7 shots, including a one-timer to Laine.

The Wings seemed to dig in for battle a minute later, but they trailed in shots 7-3, and Detroit wasn’t communicating well, so Xhekaj got a shot off, Montreal got another shot on Talbot with the Larkin line on the ice, and as Detroit changed, the Wings could not “gain traction” in the offensive end;

And Emil Heineman scored on the Canadiens’ 10th shot as Talbot whiffed on a 5-hole shot, and Detroit was down 1-0 to the Canadiens early.

Heineman scored from Evans and Matheson at 7:09.

The Wings were just giving up too many shots and chances against, and Talbot was a little rusty, so it was no surprise that the Habs won another offensive zone faceoff and Xhekaj blasted a shot into Talbot as soon as the teams returned from a TV timeout at 7:51…

The Wings did utilize defensive pinches by Petry and Holl to generate some genuine offense in the Habs’ end, and when the Canadiens threatened the Larkin line, Detroit held the Canadiens to the perimeter…

Moritz Seider made an AMAZING block to prevent a back-door play to Evans, ushering in the 2nd TV timeout at 10:45;

Montreal was having an easy time against the Wings, however, possessing the puck with ease and cycling around the perimeter as if the puck belonged to them.

Detroit had surrendered 12 shots in 12 minutes against the cycling, dashing Habs, and it’s not as if the Wings were low-energy.

Copp generated a great chance off a DeBrincat pass just over 12 minutes in, but Montembeault swallowed up the shot;

Larkin, Raymond and Tarasenko cycled their way into an offensive zone draw that Kasper could not contain;

Seider and Kane generated successive shots on Montembeault off a steal at the offensive blueline, with Kane utilizing a sneaky shot to go over Montembeault’s shoulder and make it 1-1 at 13:27.

Kane scored from Copp and DeBrincat to make it 1-1 at 13:27 of the 1st.

Seider followed up his good shift with a better chance on Montembeault, and Gustafsson missed a tremendous chance set up by Raymond;

Detroit seemed to at least be in the game, but Talbot had to stop Armia and Heineman jabbing pucks in vs. Johansson 2-on-1;

DeBrincat stole from Evans, and Copp, Kane and Seider cycled for a shot that was stopped and cleared;

And after Seider shut down Laine with a clamp that wasn’t called, Kirby Dach took a high-sticking penalty at 17:04, ushering in a Red Wings power play.

On the power play, Copp, DeBrincat, Tarasenko, Gustafsson and Kane worked as the 2nd unit on the ice 1st, and DeBrincat was unable to jam home a back-door pass;

The Canadiens repelled the Wings’ next rush, and Larkin’s unit came out, with Raymond, Kasper, Compher and Seider, and Montembeault ROBBED Compher with a neck/nameplate save that had to be seen to be believed:

Raymond coughed up the puck to Jake Evans, however, and Evans raced in on Talbot and scored a shorthanded goal to make it 2-1 with 1:29 left in the 1st.

Evans scored unassisted at 18:31 to make it 2-1 Montreal.

The Wings did not score on their power play–they were scored against–and while Detroit was scrappy and gritty as the period ended, and Jeff Petry ripped a hard shot on goal and the puck bounced off Joe Veleno’s stick blade with 19:27 gone, going through Montembeault to tie the game 2-2.

Joe Veleno scored at 19:27 from Jeff Petry and Michael Rasmussen. 2-2.

Motte then blocked a Hutson chance, and the 1st period mercifully ended.

2nd period: Detroit tied up the initial faceoff and tried to push deep into the Habs’ zone, but Montreal’s Armia and Evans raced the other way instead, and when Detroit tried to recoil, it was very difficult to do so under the Canadiens’ heavy checking.

Defenseman Mike Matheson swept around the back boards and nearly tipped a puck into the slot as he cycled;

Anderson was stifled by Talbot;

Petry and company kicked at the puck to hold the offensive zone blueline, and Raymond, Larkin and Tarasenko generated a point shot by Justin Holl as a result;

On the next exchange, Seider drew a penalty on Laine by doggedly cycling the puck from red line to blue line and through the slot, forcing Laine to take a hooking penalty at 2:55 as Seider was just a beast out there.

On the power play, Copp lost the initial draw, and the Habs chipped the puck out of play along the side glass, resulting in another faceoff–which Copp lost, and the Canadiens cleared down onto Talbot.

Detroit recoiled, retained the puck deep behind the Habs’ goal, and Kane, Copp, Gustafsson and company sent a shot wide of Montembeault;

The Wings changed at 1:05 of the PP, and Seider got to work walking the line, Larkin fired a long one wide, and Seider raced back to retrieve the puck;

Raymond could not attack at the offensive zone blueline;

Compher and Raymond were stifled, too, ending the power play.

Hutson stifled a 3-on-2 with Veleno, Petry and Rasmussen racing up the gut;

Talbot then made a big stop on Matheson;

After a TV timeout, Laine, Dach and company were able to generate a cycle and a shot from the point that Talbot had to gobble up;

The Kasper line really looked over-matched vs most lines, including the Gallagher line, and that was concerning;

Kane got the cycle going with Johansson and Gustafsson, but Detroit could not generate a scoring chance some 8:30 in;

Talbot stifled Matheson and the Habs generated a turnover some 9:30 into the 2nd, resulting in a shot by Caufield off the outside of the goal and Suzuki firing a shot wide;

Detroit just looked like it was waiting for something good to happen, and that’s not how you “manifest” good things in hockey.

After a lengthy 6-on-5 that did very little, Slafkovsky got called for cross-checking Moritz Seider in front of Talbot, yielding a Red Wings power play at 10:15.

On the power play, Larkin tied up the initial draw, but Compher was held up along the side boards, Raymond fed Seider, he fed Larkin, Raymond walked to Seider and back, and Raymond was blocked, as was Larkin’s shot…

But the Wings worked the perimeter, Seider sent a shot into the slot and Raymond fed Kasper for an easy long shot on Montembeault…

With 1:15 left in the PP, Compher and Kasper ground out the puck, but the Canadiens cleared a pass attempt for an open Raymond back-door;

With 40 left on the PP, Seider walked it to Copp and Tarasenko, who was stopped, and Gustafsson and Kane cycled along the perimeter,e pushed it down low and Copp got a shot off that was stifled to end the PP.

As play continued, the Habs continued to earn all the bounces, and Talbot had to make a huge shoulder stop on Caufield to usher in a TV timeout at 14:13, with the Habs out-shooting Detroit 7-4 in the 2nd;

The game really stagnated around the 15:00 mark, but Kane, Copp and Petry pushed the puck deep and cycled, only to watch the Habs clear their zone with ease;

Brendan Gallagher generated a power play at 16:00 by falling into the boards near Christian Fischer, who got called for cross-checking.

On the power play, Compher helped muck a lost faceoff out of the zone;

Seider stood up Laine and Motte chipped and chased and changed;

For the first minute, at least, Detroit looked good on the PK, just shutting down the Habs, but in the 2nd minute, the Canadiens got their shooting arms working, and Talbot made a great stop on Laine as he ripped a one-timer from Hutson into Talbot’s body.

Talbot also gloved an Alex Newhook one-timer, stopped a tight Gallagher shot, and Raymond picked off a pass, Larkin raced in at full strength, and Larkin walked around the Habs’ defense to generate some zone time;

Compher lost his stick in the final 45 seconds of the period, but Motte charged out of the Wings’ zone and couldn’t quite generate a scoring chance on a 2-on-2 with Rasmussen;

The 2nd ended without much happening therein.

3rd period: The 3rd period began with the Copp line winning a faceoff and pushing the puck deep, only to surrender time and space to the Evans line, which pushed the puck back to Carrier, who got a long shot off on Talbot.

The Canadiens didn’t generate a whole bunch of shots, but they had the time, space and puck possession for the first 2 minutes of the 3rd, and that was troubling.

Not troubling, however, when Lane Hutson gave the puck up to Michael Rasmussen, he skated deep into the Habs’ end and dropped the puck to Tyler Motte, who jabbed home a 3-2 goal at 1:40.

Tyler Motte scored from Michael Rasmussen at 1:40. 3-2 Detroit.

Detroit appeared to get out of neutral after the 3-2 goal was scored, and while the Canadiens were plucky, Kasper and Veleno generated a nice amount of offensive pressure and zone time of their own;

Kane and DeBrincat got a fairly good shot off on Montembeault, who had to gobble up the puck and hold it for a faceoff;

Petry got a good shot off from the red line as he was allowed to skate deep with the Larkin line cycling;

Detroit was also sacrificing more defensively, dropping to block shots and diving to jab pucks away from Canadiens players.

The increased desperation was needed as Montreal was a plucky, determined team out there on the ice, playing a workmanlike game that gave the Wings some fits at times.

Talbot made a couple of good stops against Anderson, Gallagher & company, including a tip by Gallagher off a Matheson shot.

Larkin, Raymond and Tarasenko had made a couple of “almost” plays, but nobody was finishing, and that was concerning.

Off a lengthy icing, Larkin drew in for a faceoff vs. Newhook, he lost the draw, and Montreal cleared the zone, where Newhook cycled with Laine and Evans, Carrier held the line, Laine got away from Raymond, and Evans got a big boomer off that Talbot had to stop and then seal as the rebound came off his body.

Kasper, Compher and Rasmussen were an intriguing trio to dress, and they were gritty;

And Mickey Redmond saw Arber Xhekaj’s 3-3 goal coming. Detroit and Montreal were confused by a collision between Kane and Evans, and at the other end, Xhekaj jabbed a pass back to the point through and off a Red Wing and into the net to tie the game at 3-3.

Xhekaj scored at 8:42 from Armia and Heineman to make it 3-3.

Kasper was returned to the Veleno-Fischer line, and they struggled very hard against the Newhook line, with the Habs having all the momentum after tying the game…

And as you would expect, the penalty box came calling for Joe Veleno at 10:33, when he held up Slafkovsky and got caught by the referee in the corner. PK.

On the penalty-kill, Seider and Compher cleared the puck almost immediately after Larkin won a defensive zone draw, and Compher battled the puck deep vs. Montreal as well;

But Suzuki and the Habs cycled deep vs. Detroit, earned an offensive zone draw…

And Detroit was able to clear the puck vs. Caufield and company, but again, the Habs persisted, and Suzuki, Laine, Caufield, Hutson and Slafkovsky worked the perimeter, and Laine’s slapper was tipped in front by Moritz Seider’s broken stick, affording the Canadiens a 4-3 lead with 7:58 left in the 3rd.

Detroit gave up a PPG to Laine, assisted by Caufield and Hutson.

The Wings were still struggling to get pucks out of their zone, and Montreal really began to take shot after shot on Talbot, who was not in top form.

With the crowd abuzz thanks to Canadiens fans in the crowd, pissed off when the Canadiens didn’t get easy penalties, the clock began to become the enemy, and it ticked down to 6:00, 5:50…

Veleno sent a pass from Justin Holl wide of the net on a one-timer, and the Habs iced it with 5:36 remaining…

Copp, Kane and Chiarot at least generated a shot on goal off an offensive zone faceoff, but then the Canadiens pushed Detroit into its own zone with 5:10 left, and the Caufield line had to be challenged by Copp, Kane and DeBrincat, who was held up…

Raymond, Larkin and Kasper came out together and Raymond made a gorgeous deke-and-dangle move, but he was unable to dent Montembeault;

Larkin, Kasper and Raymond then fed Petry whose shot was tipped off the outside of the goal…

And with 3:53 left, and a TV timeout to recharge, Kaiden Guhle grabbed Lucas Raymond and headed to the penalty box for holding.

On the crucial power play, Larkin drew in for the faceoff, tied it up, and the Canadiens cleared the zone;

Talbot gave to Seider, he dropped to DeBrincat and up came the Wings, with Kane finding Larkin, Larkin double teamed and dumped, Raymond helping and Montreal clearing the zone with 1:20 left PP;

Seider drop passed to Larkin and then Raymond as the Wings entered the zone, Kane went to Seider, to DeBrincat, Raymond walked, DeBrincat was blocked off, Seider fed Kane, he fed Raymond who heeled it wide, Larkin was stopped, Raymond fed Kane to Seider and Raymond, DeBrincat was stopped and the Habs cleared with 28 left in the PP…

Kasper and Compher worked with Rasmussen, around to Tarasenko, but he was blocked out and that ended the power play.

Kasper raced up with 1:52 left, Rasmussen walked, looked, found Compher he was stopped by Montembeault, Kasper raced out for DeBrincat, Raymond reversed for DeBrincat, to Copp, for Gustafsson, to Kane, walking, looking, Larkin to Raymond to Gustafsson to Kane, 1:05 left, deep for Larkin, to Kane, walking, walking, Larkin shot stopped and Matheson could not clear vs. Larkin, Kane blocked, Montreal takes, clears and off Armia it goes in Detroit’s zone, Armia trips Gustafsson, no call, Wings have 30 left…

Kane walks passes to no one and the Habs clear it down with 20 left.

Seider for DeBrincat skating up for Kane Kane walks fires it in and Copp and Raymond are blocked, DeBrincat looks fires and Codpp jams but Montembeault holds.

Detroit called timeout with 1.4 seconds left, and it felt like far too little time with which to earn a tie as the Habs appeared to be leaving Detroit 1 point behind the Red Wings in the Eastern Conference standings.

Larkin drew the faceoff back and was tied up, ending the game.

Statistics: Here are the Game Summary and Event Summary:

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George Malik

My name is George Malik, and I'm the Malik Report's editor/blogger/poster. I have been blogging about the Red Wings since 2006, and have worked with MLive and Kukla's Korner. Thank you for reading!

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