(Montreal) Even though the Canadian recovered on Saturday evening at the Bell Centre, the players were angry with their start to the game and did not have the heart to celebrate the point snatched from a division rival.
Jake Walman scored 54 seconds into overtime and the Detroit Red Wings defeated the Montreal hockey club 5-4.
The Habs fell behind 3-0 and 4-2. He ended an 0-for-27 streak on the power play by taking advantage of his fifth opportunity against the Red Wings early in the third period to narrow the gap to 4-3.
Gustav Lindström then tied the game late in the third period, but Walman finally gave the Red Wings the victory with a cannonball.
“We had a very bad first period and that can’t happen to us,” said Nick Suzuki, who collected a goal and an assist. We cannot continue to dig our own grave. Yes, we fought and recovered, but that can’t happen again. »
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
Justin Barron (52)
Justin Barron and Joel Armia also hit the target for the Canadian (10-11-3), who has lost three of his last four games (1-2-1). Jake Allen stopped 28 shots.
“We have to be better prepared to start the matches,” added Cole Caufield, who was reunited with Suzuki at five against five after an 11-game separation.
“This is unacceptable,” he admitted.
For the Red Wings (13-7-3), Walman, Daniel Sprong and Alex DeBrincat each collected a goal and an assist, while Joe Veleno and Christian Fischer also moved the ropes. Moritz Seider accumulated two assists and Ville Husso made 26 saves.
Forward Mitchell Stephens played his first match with the Canadian and scored a 73e career in the NHL. He replaced Alex Newhook, who will be sidelined for 10 to 12 weeks with a sprained left ankle suffered Thursday in the Habs’ 5-1 loss to the Florida Panthers.
The Canadian will play their next game on Monday, when they host the Seattle Kraken at the Bell Centre.
Two-part duel
Veleno opened the scoring 7:21 into the game. A shot from Lucas Raymond hit Barron in front of the net and the puck landed on the blade of Veleno’s stick, who was able to shoot into a gaping cage.
The native of Montreal’s West Island scored on his team’s fifth shot on goal. For his part, the Canadian still had no shots on the clock.
Fischer widened the gap to 11:44, outnumbered. Barron lost control of the puck at the Red Wings blue line and Michael Rasmussen was able to escape. Allen made the save, but lost sight of the puck, which came to rest to his left. Fischer jumped at the opportunity by pushing the disc into the opening.
Sprong pushed the Red Wings’ lead to 3-0 with 39.4 seconds left, beating Allen on the shield side on a two-on-one attack.
Barron restarted the Canadian with 6.1 seconds left on the clock. A Suzuki shot hit defenseman Jeff Petry and the puck flew to Barron, who hit the target.
“We had a lot of guys who weren’t ready,” said head coach Martin St-Louis. It’s not easy in this league when you start a game like that, when you shoot yourself in the foot by not leaving on time.
“At least the goal at the end of the first half gave us hope. »
Armia cut the lead to 3-2 at 4:07 of the second period, beating Husso on the glove side in a short-handed two-on-one attack.
DeBrincat responded during the same penalty to Allen for tripping a rival. He surprised Allen by cleverly deflecting a Seider delivery into the mouth of the net.
For DeBrincat it was a 200e career NHL goal.
Caufield fired a dangerous one-timer during a Habs power play midway through the period, but Husso made the save.
The Canadian was less effective when he got 61 seconds of five-on-three play late in the second period. Mike Matheson was the only one to attempt a shot and it was blocked by Seider.
Suzuki finally put an end to the Canadian’s desert crossing on the power play, when he beat Husso on the shield side 4:12 into the third period.
Lindström completed the comeback with 3:59 left in regulation, taking advantage of a short pass from Josh Anderson before beating Husso, who was losing his balance.
Walman ultimately saved face for the Red Wings in overtime.
In details
Allen (again) generous
You have to give Jake Allen where credit is due. After looking downright vulnerable by giving up four times on the Red Wings’ first 15 shots, he kept his team in it for the rest of the game. The fact remains that the veteran still gave a lot of goals. After just one period, it was already certain that this match would be his eighth, in 10 starts this season, in which he would allow at least three goals. In fact, since the start of 2023, it was the 20th time in 27 starts. Put another way, when Jake Allen is on the job, it’s likely four or more goals for the Habs to win a game. If he found relative satisfaction in the point that his club managed to extract from the Red Wings, the goalkeeper admitted, after the match, that he had not loved his performance. He is now 0-5-1 in his last six starts and hasn’t won since October 28.
Well, but…
We were able to wipe the slate clean: after 27 consecutive unsuccessful attempts, the Canadian finally scored a power play goal, courtesy of Nick Suzuki, who beat Ville Husso with a wrist shot that was as powerful as it was precise. Neither the author of this goal nor his coach, however, had much positive to say about the CH’s prowess in this department, because we certainly did not witness an execution clinic. The Red Wings even scored in the first twenty, while playing with a man less. The inefficiency seemed to reach a peak when the locals took advantage of 59 seconds of five-on-three play in the second period without even managing to get a shot on target. Martin St-Louis admitted that his men had a play in mind, but that they never managed to execute it, due to lack of the necessary opening. “At times, you have to know how to improvise. We could have done a better job,” he summarized. As for Suzuki’s goal, the coach noted that it did “good” but that there was still “a lot of work” to be done in that department.
Anderson’s Little Things
In the morning, Martin St-Louis had said of Josh Anderson that he had stopped trying so hard to score that famous first goal that didn’t happen, and that he seemed, in a way, liberated – we paraphrase. We had an example of this on the equalizing goal. After catching the puck in the slot, Anderson certainly could have pivoted and fired a shot. However, he had the presence of mind to look to his right, as Gustav Lindström rushed towards the net. He handed the puck to the Swedish defender, who scored. Without being transcendent, on Saturday, Anderson still managed to stand out, in particular thanks to his imposing physical presence around the opposing net. It will have to become a goal one day or another. But until then, the famous “little things” have their value. Like this pass to Lindström. You have to start somewhere.
Simon-Olivier Lorange, The Press