The 21-21-and-5 Detroit Red Wings will play an important game against the 24-19-and-4 Montreal Canadiens this evening (7 PM EST start on FanDuel SportsNet Detroit/TSN5/RDS2/97.1 FM), with the Red Wings sitting 5 points behind the Canadiens in the Eastern Conference standings.
The Canadiens come into tonight’s game “on a heater,” having won 2 straight, 4 of 5 and 7 of their past 10 games, while the Red Wings are on an 0-2-and-1 streak over their past 3 games.
Montreal most recently won a 3-2 decision over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday evening, and Field Level Media summarizes the state of the Canadiens thusly:
The Montreal Canadiens began to turn their season around with consecutive victories over Detroit last month. They’ll look to keep their hot streak going when they visit Detroit on Thursday night.
Montreal has a 13-3-1 record over its last 17 games with the wins over the Red Wings coming early in the streak. The Canadiens won at Detroit 4-3 on Dec. 20, then took the rematch the following night, 5-1.
The game on Thursday will be the third of four meetings between the Original Six opponents. Montreal has won its last two games following a 7-3 to Toronto. The Canadiens bounced back with a 5-4 overtime victory against the New York Islanders, then rallied from a two-goal deficit to defeat Tampa Bay, 3-2, on Tuesday.
“We don’t want to be caught in those (deficit) situations, especially coming down the stretch,” center Alex Newhook said. “We don’t want to be chasing the game all the time. If there’s anything we can take away from this success we’ve found, it’s getting out to better starts is important for us.”
Jake Evans finished off the rally with a tiebreaking goal with 2:15 remaining.
“I think we just have so much belief in how we play and no lead is too far off for us to chase off,” Evans said. “We were down two and weren’t playing our best, and we knew if we started playing our hockey, it’s going to be easy to get back in it.”
Lane Hutson could make some history on Thursday. He extended his assist and point streaks to nine games on Tuesday. That tied the NHL record for the longest assist streak by a rookie defenseman, set by Shayne Gostisbehere of the Philadelphia Flyers in 2015-16.
As MLive’s Tyler Kuehl notes, the Red Wings are chasing the Habs now…
As a result of the 1-2-1 swing, the Wings remain seventh in the Atlantic Division, five points out of the last Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference.
One of the teams Detroit is chasing is, surprisingly, the Canadiens. For a team that arguably came into the season with lower expectations than the Wings, the fact Montreal is in the playoff hunt this late into the season is impressive. After a big win over the Lightning on Tuesday, the Habs are tied with the Ottawa Senators for fourth in the Atlantic, holding one of the Wild Card spots.
This is the third of four meetings this year between the Original Six foes, with Montreal winning the first two matchups.
The Hockey News’s Karine Hains discusses the Canadiens’ personnel for tonight’s game…
After signing a spectacular comeback win against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night, the Montreal Canadiens headed to Detroit to take on the Red Wings tonight. The last time the two teams met was in a back-to-back shortly before the Christmas break, and those 4-3 and 5-1 win could be seen as the turning point of the Canadiens’ season.
If the Wings were ahead of the Habs back then, it’s not the case anymore. Both teams have played 47 games but the Canadiens currently have 52 points in the standings and are occupying the second Wild Card spot while the Wings have 47 points and are 25th in the league.
Yesterday, after practice, [Canadiens coach] Martin St-Louis confirmed Samuel Montembeault would be getting a second start in a row, which is fully deserved after his stellar play against the Lightning. The Becancour native has got a 3-0-2 record against the Detroit outfit with a .899 save percentage and a 2.73 goals-against average.
There’s no word yet as to who will man the net for the Wings between Alex Lyon or Cam Talbot. They split the duty during the back-to-back, Lyon had given up five goals while Talbot surrendered four. The former has a 4-2-0 record against Montreal with a .879 SP and a 3.15 GAA. As for Talbot, he’s 8-3-1 with a .941 save percentage and a 1.58 GAA. Lyon was in net for the Wings’ last game and so far this season, Talbot has seen most of the action, it would therefore make sense for him to be in the crease.
Brendan Gallagher, who will play his 800th game tonight, is the most productive forward against the Wings he has 29 points in 35 games, closely followed by Patrik Laine who’s on 20 points in 22 games. Nick Suzuki wraps up the top three with 14 points in 17 games. The Canadiens sent Owen Beck back to the Laval Rocket, which means Michael Pezzetta will be back in the line-up tonight.
On the other side, Patrick Kane leads the way with 22 points in 26 games, followed by Dylan Larkin with 19 points in 34 games and Alex DeBrincat wraps up the top three with 18 points in 17 games.
The Canadiens’ website also posted a game preview–and it notes that the Canadiens are not holding a morning skate today:
TEAM COMPARISONS
The Canadiens (13-3-1 in their last 17 games) climbed back from a 2-0 deficit to earn their seventh win of January on Tuesday. That alone is impressive, but what’s even more telling is that Montreal trailed at some point in all seven of those come-from-behind victories—a testament to their character and never-say-die mentality. For the sake of your blood pressure and mine, a comfortable win—like the Canadiens 5-1 rout of the Red Wings on December 21—would be a welcome change. However, in the thick of the Eastern Conference standings, Habs fans will take the points however they come. And with two more points at stake tonight, Montreal will look to secure yet another win to the good in an all-important divisional match-up in Detroit.
The Red Wings made a major personnel change since last time the Canadiens saw them—this one behind the bench. Head coach Derek Lalonde was dismissed on December 26, with Todd McLellan stepping in as his replacement. Under McLellan, Detroit is 8-4-1 with a power play operating at a league-high 41.9% efficiency rate. Lately, though, the Wings have struggled. They’re currently mired in a three-game losing streak and have scored just three goals over that stretch. Rapidly losing ground in the playoff picture, expect a desperate Detroit team to show up to Little Caesars Arena on Thursday looking to get back on track.
SEASON SERIES
Dec. 20 @ DET: 4-3 MTL
Dec. 21 vs. DET: 5-1 MTL
Jan. 23 @ DET:
Apr. 8 vs. DET:
PLAYERS TO WATCH FOR
Let it be the milestone men for Montreal. Dvorak, Gallagher and Laine have combined for seven points over the Canadiens’ last two games, with each scoring in Sunday’s win over the Rangers. Together, the trio has already totaled three goals against Detroit this season, and they’ll look to add to that count on Thursday.
For whatever reason, the net looks twice its size for Joe Veleno when he faces the Canadiens. The West Island native, typically quiet offensively, has lit the lamp in five of his last seven appearances against his hometown team, including both matchups this season.
The AP’s game preview offers some stats of note heading into tonight’s game…
BOTTOM LINE: The Detroit Red Wings head into a matchup with the Montreal Canadiens after losing three in a row.
Detroit is 5-8-1 against the Atlantic Division and 21-21-5 overall. The Red Wings are 3-6-3 in games they serve more penalty minutes than their opponents.
Montreal is 24-19-4 overall with a 9-4-0 record against the Atlantic Division. The Canadiens have committed 201 total penalties (4.3 per game) to rank third in league play.
The teams meet Thursday for the third time this season. The Canadiens won the last match-up 5-1.
TOP PERFORMERS: Lucas Raymond has 19 goals and 32 assists for the Red Wings. Dylan Larkin has seven goals and seven assists over the past 10 games.
Cole Caufield has 24 goals and 20 assists for the Canadiens. Patrik Laine has four goals and three assists over the last 10 games.
And here are tonight’s game notes:
