[Game Recap] Montreal beats Detroit 3-1

Well, that certainly wasn't how I wanted to head into Thanksgiving. The Red Wings lost by a score of 3-1 in a game. Montreal scored its three goals all in the second period.The Canadiens went 1-for-3 on the power play.

The Wings weren't able to score until the second half of the third period. After going six days without scoring, Johan Franzen found his way back on the board in an unassisted manner. It was the first time this season that the Wings have scored less than two goals.

Ty Conklin only made 22 saves in the outing, but I thought the goals were kind of funky and at least in person I didn't think that he should have stopped all of them. To be honest, I wasn't too impressed with the Wings play, particularly in the second period. Admittedly, the Wings played just got back from a long road trip and were lacking some energy. Hopefully a day off for Thanksgiving will rejuvenate the players and have them come out strong on Friday night against Columbus.

"I knew looking at the schedule in the summer that this was a tough game," Babcock said afterward. "We stayed over (after Sunday's game in Vancouver) to try to counteract it, but obviously we still didn't have the kind of jump we normally do, and they won more one-on-one battles. They played everyone back, clogged up the neutral zone. We turned it over too many times."

Other News...

Dan Cleary will be ready to play on Friday after missing seven games. Darren Helm was sent back to Grand Rapids following the conclusion of the game and Darren McCarty will return to Detroit.