Canadiens blow by Red Wings 6-3

Alex Galchenyuk #27 of the Montreal Canadiens celebrates his second period goal with teammates while playing the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena on November 30, 2017 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

Montreal was on a mission to get in front of the Detroit Red Wings two different ways at Little Caesars Arena Thursday night. The Habs scored five unanswered to take full control of the score to win 6-3. The Canadiens victory overtook the Red Wings in the Atlantic Division and handed them a sixth consecutive loss and second straight loss in regulation.

Detroit’s woes get even harder to deal with against a division rival who has found their groove in the season. The Habs have won their last three with Carey Price coming back just in time to enjoy the streak of positivity for his team. This would be his second back to back this season helping Montreal to a 2-1 win against the Ottawa Senators. The Red Wings would try to avoid their longest losing streak of the season dropping a tough match against the Los Angeles Kings who scored unanswered goals consecutively. Howard who is 0-3-2 in the last five would start once more to try and cash in against their Original Six rival.

The Canadiens made their first move on a power play to start the first period. Brendan Gallagher scored for Montreal with a shot that Jimmy Howard thought he was ready to block but instead watched it zip past his right side. It was Gallagher’s 11^th but was soon matched by the Red Wings. Anthony Mantha took a chance with a side shot that deflected off Victor Mete going top shelf at Carey Price for Mantha’s 12^th to even it up.

Detroit got on the power play once again but weren’t able to convert another goal to up their score against the Habs. Montreal had their chance but it didn’t help them increase the shots on Howard who only saw four through 13 minutes of play. Man advantages were coming out of the wood work with four having been split evenly. On Detroit’s second chance, Tomas Tatar got his eighth on a well-rounded play by the Detroit second line. He finished the pass play with a shot while Justin Abdelkader blocked Price from seeing it come at him. The Red Wings move ahead well on shots to the net that gave them a 13-6 run after twenty minutes of play.

The Canadiens clearly showed that they can pick up the pace as they ran the second period with significant strength. They overtook Detroit on shots to the net in the second period that led to a lot of pressure in the Detroit zone. At 4:46, the Canadiens tied the game on Charles Hudon’s scoring chance that gave him his third of the season ending the offensive barrage. Montreal gained the lead on Andrew Shaw’s drive that came just 43 seconds later giving them the lead 3-2.

Detroit attempted to get back into contention and recover the lost ground that was in the hands of the Canadiens. They kept the heat on the Red Wings and added a third unanswered on a second chance shot for Alex Galchenyuk that saw him shoot into an open net for his sixth with two minutes to go in the period. They held Detroit off for the remainder of the time left that also saw Montreal outshoot them 13-9.

The third period was a fight from Detroit to hold Montreal to very little opportunities with the puck. After eight minutes of play, only five shots were taken with Detroit leading the shots. Just when it looked as if their strategy to hold Montreal would work, a scoring chance from the blue line only increased the gap in the score. Jacob de la Rose fired the puck from the blue line that redirected off Gallagher for his second of the night. It then redirected off Detroit’s Niklas Kronwall before going by Howard and into the net.

Half the period was left to play and with a three-goal deficit, it didn’t look good that Detroit could overcome the gap and win. Montreal continued to make it even better for them as a sixth goal went into the Detroit net with Jeff Petry getting the puck on its way, Howard did get the glove on it but the whistle never blew giving Canadiens captain Max Pacioretty a stick on it to score his eighth and first in nine games. Detroit somehow found a way to respond on offense as their shots on net were coming up short.

Frans Nielsen made his attempt count 1:37 after Montreal’s fifth unanswered to make it a three-goal deficit. While Nielsen gained his seventh of the year, the inevitable was closing in as the Canadiens held off the Red Wings in the last two minutes to get the two points that put them in third place in the Atlantic Division and Detroit further down the standings. They would get another chance at the Habs on Saturday that would take them north of the border to face them at Centre Bell.