The Montreal Canadiens made the most of their advantage in net, as they beat the visiting Detroit Red Wings 5-1 in the second half of a home-and-home series on Saturday. The Habs started goalie Sam Montembeault, who had also earned the 4-3 victory on Friday in Detroit, while the Wings started backup Alex Lyon (instead of No. 1 Cam Talbot) at the Bell Centre.
Despite giving up the first goal, Montembeault looked sharp the rest of the way, stopping 20 shots in all. After Red Wings forward Joe Veleno made it 1-0 off a tip-in at the side of the net off a Moritz Seider shot 6:41 in, the Canadiens responded in kind and then some. Juraj Slafkovsky tied the score at 14:14, tipping in a Nick Suzuki shot. Soon thereafter, Jake Evans put the Canadiens ahead for good at 15:26 of the first, with a wrist shot from the slot. Lyon stopped 19 of 24 shots on the night.
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Canadiens forward Patrik Laine continued on his hot streak, to make it 3-1 in the last minute of the frame. Red Wings forward Dylan Larkin had gone off for interference on Cole Caufield on a call hotly contested call by the Wings bench, after he had impeded the Canadiens forward in an attempt to win a battle for the puck exiting the defensive zone.
Laine, Gallagher Make History with Habs
The penalty proved costly, as Laine, who had become the first Canadiens player to score their first six in the uniform on the power play earlier in the week, scored from his favourite spot, by the faceoff circle. That made it eight on the man advantage in nine games, after he had scored the game-winning goal the night before under similar circumstances.
Emil Heineman and Brendan Gallagher rounded out the scoring in the second. In scoring his ninth, Gallagher, on a slapshot following a drop pass from Josh Anderson, passed Max Pacioretty to rank 18th on the team’s all-time goals list with 227. Despite the Red Wings losing Ben Chiarot to injury in the second, they held the Canadiens off the scoresheet in the third. They had already been missing fellow-defenseman Simon Edvinsson to injury.
The win marked the Canadiens’ third in a row, the first time they’ve won that many consecutively all season. With the two over the Red Wings, they’ve moved past them in the Atlantic Division. The Canadiens now sit at 14-16-3 for 31 points, while the Red Wings are 13-16-4 for 30 points. The Wings play their next four at home, starting against the St. Louis Blues on Monday, to close out 2024. Starting Monday against the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Canadiens play their next six on the road, the Christmas break and New Year’s in the middle.
