Friday (Dec. 20) was the first of a back-to-back series between Original Six rivals the Montreal Canadiens and Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena. The teams put on a good show for the crowd, with the Canadiens skating to a 4-3 win.
Marque finale: MONTRÉ4L-DE3
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) December 21, 2024
Four-casted a dub#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/xV0vqGxIx0
Canadiens and Red Wings Come Out Hot
For a pair of teams struggling to generate offense this season, Montreal (2.81 goals per game) and Detroit (2.68 goals per game) delivered a first period that defied the odds of those expecting a low-scoring affair.
The Canadiens’ Emil Heineman got the party started at 7:09. Montreal performed excellent pressing in the neutral zone, resulting in a turnover in their favor. Jake Evans sent the puck to the young Swedish forward, who raced out from the left side and sent a fiery wrist shot from the top of the circle that beat Cam Talbot.
Leave it to the ageless wonder Patrick Kane to pull a rabbit out of his helmet. About six minutes later, Montreal blueliner Lane Hutson failed to get the disc out of his zone. Andrew Copp mailed Kane a pass and the latter dribbled to Samuel Montembeault’s right. The goalie got down, surely thinking his angles were covered. Not so. Kane blasted a shot over the netminder’s shoulder, top cheddar.
Related: Canadiens Need to Balance Size and Skill to Successfully Rebuild
The fireworks continued when Jake Evans, playing his 300th game, awarded the Canadiens a 2-1 lead at 18:31 when, on the penalty kill, he stole the puck in the neutral zone and slid the rubber below Detroit’s netminder on a breakaway.
But the lead would not even last the 1:29 left in the opening frame, as Joe Velano deflected a Jeff Petry slap shot from the point to level the terms.
Despite all the goals, the highlight of the opening stanza may have been a bizarre yet mesmeric save by Montembeault. The disc deflected upwards from behind his net, over the bar, and onto the top of his back, just below the mask. Sensing it, Montembeault bent forward to make sure it didn’t trickle off him and into the net.
Laine to the Rescue Again
It was a rough night for Hutson. Tomfoolery struck again early in the third. A seemingly harmless puck bounced towards him, but Detroit’s Michael Rasmussen sensed an opportunity. He stole it, skated to the goalie’s left and backhanded a pass to an oncoming Tyler Motte, who sent the biscuit into the gaping basket for a 3-2 lead.
Defender Arber Xhekaj pulled the Canadiens back with his first of the campaign at 8:42 with a shot from the top of the left faceoff circle. It had juice, but Talbot probably wished he had it back.
Montreal would grab the lead in a highly unexpected way via Patrik Laine on the man advantage. Psyche. Well, he did score from the left side at 12:02 when Montreal was up a man. It’s just that each of his seven goals since returning from injury has been like that, so there was nothing unusual about it.
Things got nervy for the visitors towards the end of the game, as Detroit was awarded a power play with less than four minutes to go, but Montreal held the fort for the 4-3 victory.
The same clubs go at it again in less than 24 hours from the end of this contest, only the stage switches for the Bell Centre in Montreal.
