The Canadian wanted to open the floodgates before leaving for the American west coast. He can say mission accomplished.
Mathieu Perreault had a hat trick as the Montreal team finally came out of their torpor and ended their five-game losing streak to start the campaign by beating the Detroit Red Wings 6-1 on Saturday night at the Bell Center.
The Habs have scored more goals in a period and a half against the Red Wings than in their first five games of the season. He was thus able to evacuate some of the frustration of poor performance at the start of the campaign.
Christian Dvorak and Ben Chiarot also each amassed a goal and an assist, while Mike Hoffman also hit the target for the Canadian (1-5-0). Sami Niku collected two assists when he first met in his new uniform. Jake Allen repelled 26 shots.
Niku had been inserted in the formation in relief to Chris Wideman. He finished the night with a plus-3 differential and he was on the ice for four of his own.
Dylan Larkin was the sole scorer for the Red Wings (2-2-1), who swept the seasonal series against the Canadiens in 2019-2020. Thomas Greiss allowed five goals on 17 shots in 29:59 of play. Alex Nedeljkovic took over and stopped seven shots.
The Red Wings were deprived of their leading scorer Tyler Bertuzzi, author of five goals and an assist in four games this season. Bertuzzi has decided not to be vaccinated against COVID-19 and is expected to undergo a 14-day quarantine if he crosses the Canada-U.S. Border. So he stayed in Detroit.
The Red Wings also had to do without defenseman Filip Hronek.
The Canadian will play four games next week on the US West Coast. His first stop will be in Seattle, where he will face the Kraken for the first time on Tuesday.
Offensive explosion
The Canadian started the game strong, but he shot himself in the foot to find himself outnumbered when Chiarot was penalized for tripping a rival.
Six seconds after the penalty began at Chiarot, Larkin beat Allen on the mitt side and gave the Red Wings the lead at 5:25 of the first twenty.
Pius Suter had two good chances to widen the gap, but he slashed the air on the first chance, then hit the post head-on on the second.
The Canadian tied the game with 5:50 left in the first twenty. David Savard caused a turnaround at the Red Wings’ blue line, then Jonathan Drouin joined Chiarot in the enclave and the Habs defender did not miss his chance.
The Habs returned to the charge 125 seconds later, on the power play. Hoffman surprised Greiss with a good low shot from the far side.
The Canadian then led for the first time since the first period of his first game this season, in Toronto. He then had the lead for only 2:50 of play.
Hoffman set the table perfectly for Brendan Gallagher back from the locker room forcing Greiss to concede a dangerous comeback in a two-on-one attack, Gallagher however was unable to touch the disc while he had a gaping cage. behind him.
It was only a postponement for the Canadian. Dvorak widened the lead to 3-1 after 3:17 of play in the second period. He was lucky when his cross pass deflected against defender Marc Staal’s skate before crossing the goal line.
All it took was all that was needed for the crowd to ignite at the Bell Center and sing “Olé! Olé! Olé! “.
The fans were rewarded for their enthusiasm, as Perreault added two goals before the halfway point, at 7:45 and 9:59.
Perreault first surprised Greiss on the side of the mitt, before taking advantage of a short discount from Tyler Toffoli to end the night of work of the Red Wings goaltender.
Toffoli could have added the Habs sixth goal moments later, but he missed the mark after a high-speed climb from Cole Caufield.
The third period was just a formality. Perreault completed his hat trick with 6:44 left, as the Red Wings replaced Nedeljkovic with an additional forward.