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The Canadiens suffer their first defeat against the Red Wings this season
Credit: Three players from the Canadiens reached an important milestone during Thursday’s game against the Red Wings. Brendan Gallagher played his 800th game in the NHL, while it was the 500th for Patrik Laine and Christian Dvorak. Michael Pezzetta also made a return to the lineup. Montreal may have won the first two meetings between the […]

Three players from the Canadiens reached an important milestone during Thursday’s game against the Red Wings. Brendan Gallagher played his 800th game in the NHL, while it was the 500th for Patrik Laine and Christian Dvorak.

Michael Pezzetta also made a return to the lineup.

Montreal may have won the first two meetings between the two teams this season, but one shouldn’t expect it to be an easy game.

Here is the Canadiens’ lineup:

And here is the Red Wings’ lineup:

The Tricolore completely fell apart in the first period. The Canadiens players managed to take just four shots on the Red Wings’ net during the entire period.

The worst part is that Detroit was able to direct 17 shots towards Samuel Montembeault’s net. It’s simply crazy.

In comparison, the Capitals had taken 17 shots against the Canadiens in their last meeting and there was an overtime!

Faced with such an onslaught, Montembeault eventually faltered. Jonatan Berggren opened the scoring midway through the period.

Then, at the end of the period, the Red Wings took advantage of a power play to double their lead. Montembeault completely bit on the passing fake, which allowed Alex DeBrincat to score into an empty net, just a few seconds after Kirby Dach’s penalty ended.

The first 20 minutes of this game were certainly forgettable for the Canadiens, who headed to the locker room down 2-0.

The Canadiens’ power play has been doing quite well this season. However, they made a serious mistake by allowing Andrew Copp to get away.

The Red Wings thus led by three goals.

The good news for the Canadiens is that they managed to stem the bleeding with their first goal of the game.

Christian Dvorak was convinced he scored in his 500th NHL game, but it was ultimately Kirby Dach who opened the scoring for Montreal.

Detroit was eventually able to regain a three-goal lead. Dylan Larkin took advantage of a gift from Montembeault to score on the power play.

Montembeault really didn’t have a great game.

Kaiden Guhle gave the Canadiens some hope midway through the second period. His wrist shot from the blue line found its way behind Cam Talbot.

After two periods, the Canadiens were still trailing by two goals, this time by a score of 4-2.

Every means is good to come back. Cole Caufield played long minutes in the third period, taking Michael Pezzetta’s spot on the fourth line as well as playing on the first line of the CH.

Midway through the third period, Christian Fischer was convinced he had scored a fifth goal for the Red Wings, but the officials quickly disallowed the goal because Michael Rasmussen made contact with Montembeault.

The Red Wings requested a review of the sequence, but the referees did not change their decision.

The Tricolore thus had a power play, but it was unsuccessful.

Montembeault may not have had an easy game, but his performance can be excused by the fact that the Red Wings took 45 shots on him during the game. His teammates really did not help him.

Martin St-Louis pulled Montembeault in the final minutes of the game, but Montreal was unable to score even a single goal. Juraj Slafkovsky was also penalized with about a minute left in the game, ruining the chances of a comeback.

The Red Wings thus won the game by a score of 4-2.

Lane Hutson’s streak of games with at least one point ended at nine, as he was held off the scoresheet.

The Canadiens will be back in action on Saturday, as they host Jake Allen and the Devils at the Bell Centre.


Overtime

– A scoring player for Montreal.

– Not great as a first period.

– Suzuki had stayed quiet for a while.

– Max is not a big fan of the song.

– It’s something he needs to improve.

– It was to be expected.

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