The Canadiens destroyed the Red Wings but good at the Bell Centre Saturday night. It was all Montreal from start to finish scoring eight in a row before the Red Wings got their first. By the time regulation finally came to a close, the game went to the Habs in a 10-1 victory for them and the second straight against Detroit.
The Red Wings losing streak was very much out of their hands and with a win going to the Canadiens two nights ago, getting a win was very important as an Atlantic Division team. Montreal moved ahead sending Detroit down to fifth and getting the home advantage in their back to back series with them. They looked to go for a fifth straight and hoped to get Shea Weber who missed the last six games because of a lower body injury. While he stood as a game time decision, the Habs getting another on Detroit would prove favorable to their stance.
A turnover five-minutes in by the Habs allowed Paul Byron to get a break on the puck and get out front of Detroit to easily score his seventh of the season. They made it 2-0 showing a lot of fight for the puck that ended with Nicolas Deslauriers scoring his first just 32 seconds later. It was a stunning turn of events for the Red Wings to be down by so much so early, but they only got into deeper trouble handing Montreal a power play in the ninth minute. While they didn’t commit another goal to their bottom line, they remained powerful against the struggling Red Wings.
Dylan Larkin tried to get his team on the board but his attempt was stopped by the Canadiens defense and Carey Price in between the pipes. They took four shots in 14 minutes showing very little to get on the board against a surging home team. Detroit got three more but it didn’t help them gain any ground lost as the period came to a close with Montreal shooting 14 at Petr Mrazek who was making his first start since Nov. 9.
He continued to see the onslaught come from the Canadiens as Byron got ahead after Nick Jensen fell on his skates losing puck possession. Byron was able to score his second of the night making it a big 3-0 run just 1:51 into the second period. The Red Wings got a much-needed power play but it went all bad at the tail end of it. A turnover while shorthanded by Deslauriers allowed him movement and control of the puck before passing it to Jacob de la Rose who had a wide-open net for his first this year.
The Red Wings were trying to do anything to get a shot behind Price but every opportunity since the fifth minute. They took only five shots giving the indication that they were just about done playing. The score only got worse with Charles Hudon scoring one for his fourth. It was the end of Mrazek’s night who had yet to complete a game sending Jimmy Howard out to replace him.
Nearly two minutes after Hudon’s goal, Byron got a chance to make things happen and did so on a shot that gave him his first NHL hat trick and the first that Howard allowed. He finished the second with no more goals being scored in the final four minutes in which the Canadiens shot 15 while the Red Wings had 10.
The third period went into play with Detroit just waiting for the end to arrive. 20 minutes still had to go into action and the first minute saw Montreal scoring yet again. It was Brendan Gallagher scoring his 13th to reach a career milestone of 100 goals. Jordie Benn got into the fun with his third that made it 8-0 and still 14 minutes left in regulation.
At the midway point of the period, Detroit somehow found a way to get one into the net with Larkin taking his second shot that crawled to the net before Andreas Athanasiou got his stick on the puck to gain his sixth of the season. While the shutout was brought to an end, the scoring binge of the Habs wasn’t as they got another easy one in behind Howard giving Daniel Carr his first. Andrew Shaw became the eighth player by the Canadiens to score getting it on a centering shot for his seventh. 14 players assisted in the game that was a thrilling end for the Canadiens and brutal finish of 60 minutes by the Red Wings.
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