(Detroit) Jake Allen kept the Canadiens in the game and allowed his side to have the last word.
Posted at 10:03 p.m.
Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki scored in the shootout as the Montreal squad defeated the Detroit Red Wings 3-2 on Tuesday at Little Caesars Arena.
Caufield scored on the mitt side and Suzuki on the shield side. The match ended when Dylan Larkin missed the target.
The Canadian could have had a different fate due to a lack of discipline, but the Red Wings were shut out in seven attempts on the power play.
Mike Hoffman scored twice for the Canadian (6-6-1), which ended a three-game losing streak. Brendan Gallagher had two assists and Allen stopped 41 shots in 65 minutes.
Austin Czarnik and Lucas Raymond scored for the Red Wings (7-4-2), who had won their previous three games. Ville Husso made 31 saves before the shootout.
Defender Johnathan Kovacevic and forward Evgenii Dadonov had been inserted into the Canadiens’ roster, taking over from Chris Wideman and Josh Anderson. The latter was serving the first of a two-game suspension for a dangerous check on Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Alex Pietrangelo.
Dadonov had missed the Habs’ last four games, including the three most recent due to a virus.
The Canadian will play again on Wednesday, when the Vancouver Canucks will be the visitors at the Bell Centre.
A tough battle
The Red Wings threatened from the first moments of the game, but it was the Canadian who opened the scoring after 5: 41 of play.
Hoffman took advantage of a return to the slot to shoot into an open net.
A blunder by Jonathan Drouin on the Red Wings blue line during a Habs power play opened the door for Larkin to reply. Larkin was initially frustrated by Allen on the breakaway, but the referees gave him a second chance with a penalty shot after Kirby Dach had slashed him. Allen shut the door a second time on the Red Wings captain.
It was only a postponement for the local team. Czarnik completed a fine passing game started by Andrew Copp and Dominik Kubalik with 3:31 left in the first period.
Hoffman, however, gave the Canadiens the lead with 15.2 seconds left in the first period. Again, he took advantage of a return after a shot from Gallagher to move the ropes.
The Red Wings were threatening in the second period, especially on their three power plays. Allen preserved the Canadian’s lead thanks to several saves on dangerous shots.
The Canadian was deprived of the services of defender David Savard for the first 10 minutes of the last third. Savard received a misconduct for speaking his mind to the referees late in the second period.
In the absence of Savard, the Canadian understood that the best defense was the attack and he fired the first seven shots on goal of the period.
However, the Red Wings scored shortly after Savard’s return at 10:36. Raymond beat Allen with a one-timer following a cross pass from Pius Suter.
The Canadiens put themselves in a difficult position when Juraj Slafkovsky received a major penalty and a game misconduct for giving Matt Luff some tape with 5:32 left in the third period. Elmer Soderblom, however, was punished for obstruction a little later, allowing the Habs to breathe a little better for two minutes.
After a spectacular extra period, the Canadian stole the victory in a shootout.