Habs crush Red Wings 7-3

Jonathan Drouin #92 of the Montreal Canadiens celebrates a penalty shot goal in the first period with teammates on the bench against the Detroit Red Wings during the NHL game at the Bell Centre on October 15, 2018 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)

The Canadiens were not going to be the team to give the Red Wings their first win at Centre Bell. The Habs made sure of their mission scoring early in the game ending a 7-3 onslaught of Detroit Monday night. Jonathan Drouin scored two on the night giving his team their second straight win while handing the Wings their sixth consecutive defeat.

The Red Wings continue their road trip with the hopes of ending a five game losing streak. Their 8-2 loss to the Boston Bruins Saturday made them 0-5 for the first time in 44 years. A chance for them to possibly win came against Montreal who are not at a level to be considered a strong team. They are 2-1-1 so far having Pittsburgh’s number but unable to defeat the Kings and Maple Leafs so far. While they try to pull together one against Detroit, the two teams would be in a fight to prove their worth.

Detroit got off to a good start keeping the puck away from Montreal early. The Habs picked it up through the next five minutes and took four shots with some coming off as good scoring chances. A rare moment arrived for Drouin who went in during a 2 on 0 towards goaltender Jimmy Howard. Filip Hronek went after him getting caught for a slash when he caught up to him. Officials gave Drouin a penalty shot where he found the back of net for his first of the season.

Detroit tried to answer Montreal’s easy push for the lead but Habs netminder Antti Niemi was all over the puck. He made some incredible saves outside the net to keep them scoreless. It gave the Canadiens time to give him to recovering time and attack Howard again. They got one in on Tomas Plekanec’s closing window where his scoring chance went off a Detroit defender to go into the open net.

Detroit caught a great moment to get on the scoreboard as they gathered around the net where a missed shot got to Bertuzzi who sent it across the crease where Andreas Athanasiou scored 28 seconds after Montreal’s second. They got a power play which didn’t work out getting nothing on goal.

Plekanec nearly had his second but was stopped on a great play by Howard. He had to accept the next one that bounced over his shoulder which gave former Red Wings forward Tomas Tatar his second and a 3-1 lead for Montreal. The Canadiens did well with the started they wanted outshooting Detroit 15-9 making good on the Red Wings weaknesses in the neutral zone. It was there that they lost the puck eight times which led to the gap.

It got wider four minutes into the second period with Montreal pushing the puck forward to begin their scoring chances. On their third shot, the Canadiens gained a second opportunity with Brendan Gallagher scoring for his third. Charles Hudon got into the fun 43 seconds later with a drive for his second of the year giving the Habs a 5-1 run. Coach Jeff Blashill took a timeout where he pulled out Howard who was lit up and put in Jonathan Bernier.

The Quebec native was doing well to make good stops against the Habs but while he minimized how many they took, it didn’t help the Red Wings get their own strong push in the game. As time fell off the clock, it left Detroit in trouble where they were still along for the ride the Canadiens put them on. Another fight from the Montreal line scored on battle for the loose puck in the Red Wings zone where Drouin added his second of the evening.

With a five goal lead in their hands, Bernier knew that he couldn’t let anymore get through as Detroit was all but out of the match. When 40 minutes were in the books, Montreal had again outdone Detroit on shots to the net 16-7 with no end of their success in sight.  

Detroit knew that they couldn’t just throw the towel with 20 minutes left to play and gave it a shot through the first few minutes. They managed to get ahead of them on shots to Niemi but he and the Canadiens defense did everything to keep them quiet since the first period. After seven minutes of play, the Red Wings ended Montreal’s four goal run with Anthanasiou getting his second for Detroit. While it didn’t make a huge dent, the team was in a different situation with 13 minutes left in regulation.

Drouin was still looking for a chance to score a hat trick in the game. After a failed shot, he took a hit from Tyler Bertuzzi that caused him some pain. Teammate and former Red Wing defenseman Xavier Ouellet took offense to that and let Bertuzzi know. He was taken for several shots to the head by the Red Wings forward who made sure to let Ouellet his frustrations along with the rest of his team.

Tomas Vanek who had looked for a goal since the start of the season got on the board to make it 6-3 while unassisted on the play. While getting something on the board was important, find a win against the Canadiens was completely out of their horizon. The next eight minutes went by with Montreal dictating their path to victory. Before the game could come to a conclusion, the team added a seventh goal with Paul Byron getting credit for it.

It was soon just a thrill for the Red Wings to leave the ice as the horn sounded ending the game and Montreal on its feet in a show of strength against the struggling Detroit squad. They were outshot 35-28 with Bernier seeing 15 to stop 13. Niemi had an easy finish to his time between the pipes stopping 25 on the night and a shutout in the second period. While the veteran and his team bask in a third win when they were predicted to falter, the Red Wings will continue to hope for a win as the season takes them to Florida facing the Tampa Bay Lightning Thursday.