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Le Bleu, Blanc, et Deux: Red Wings doubled up by Canadiens 4-2.

Posted on by Brenden Purdy

The Lowdown

On the 21st anniversary of a great moment in Red Wings history I would would first off, just like to leave this here.

Now to business.

Almost four months removed from the 10-1 WHOOPPIN’ the Wings took at the Bell Centre they were back to tangle with the Habs, who are currently a point up on Detroit.

Bertuzzi-Zetterberg-Nyquist

Helm-Larkin-Mantha

Athanasiou-Nielsen-Abdelkader

Frk-Glendening-Svechnikov

Ericsson-Daley

DeKeyser-Jensen

Kronwall-Ouellet

Coreau

Howard

Jared Coreau v.s. Carey Price (I had forgotten about this tidbit from last season)

F1RST

Two and a half minutes in and the best chance between the two teams belongs to the Habs on a floating wrister from the point, However, it sailed six inches wide of Jared Coreau.

Well that didn’t take long! Just under five minutes in and the Red Wings take the lead on their opening shot of the contest.  Tyler Bertuzzi went banging into the corner causing a loose puck, captain Henrik Zetterberg zipped the biscuit to Gus Nyquist back-door for a 1-0 lead.

A big bounce back shift for the Canadiens, another blueline wrist shot, this one made its way to Coreau and squeaked through.  However, the netminder was able to hop on the puck.

Detroit got out to the early lead but Montreal has had the better zone controlled offense as this game starts to loosen up a bit.

Great sustained pressure from the fourth line (42-41-77)  nice to see Evgeny Svechnikov driving to the net on the wraparound as he navigates his way into the NHL.

Coureau would snare a shot ending the fourth lines next shift in which the were hemmed into the defensive zone.  12:21 into the contest and Montreal is owning the shots-on-goal column, out-gunning Detroit 9-3.

Nikita Scherbak blows a tire at the blue line and Andreas Athansiou with a break the other way.  Wings unable to convert but, Detroit headed to the power play as a back checking defender tripped up Justin Abdelkader who had hustled to catch up to AA.

Good puck movement on the power play that despite not yielding any scoring looked positive.  However, when Carey Price can stay square to the puck you’re not too likely to score.

Larky, Larky.  Two minutes for the hook on Artturi Lehkonen.

Well Larkin’s 56th PIM’s equal Paul Byron’s 19th.  Why Byron?  And why has he lit up the Wings this season?  Anyways, that’s a tie game 1-1, shots 15-8.

15-9 shots headed into the break, game tied at ones.

ASSESMENT

The Red Wings will need to provide heavier sustained offensive pressure moving forward if they are going to knock a couple more passed Price.  There have been some bright spots now to just build on them over the next 40.

SEC2ND

What. A. Move.  Captain Hank with the Swede hands in the slot he however, would fire the puck up and through the uprights.  Still, a beauty play.

Scary moment three minutes and change into the middle frame, Svechnikov blocks a point-shot with his hand and is flexing it out-of-glove on the bench afterwards.

Well there’s a lucky one off of great pressure by the Habs, courtesy of, you guessed it Paul Byron.  No, Byron didn’t score but he started this pressure off and Brendan Gallagher has a cheesy one, his 29th, 2-1 Habs.

The next shift Montreal offered a LONG 6-5 with the delayed penalty, Wings chasing the game currently.  This is a HUGE penalty kill.

And it was. PENALTY KILLED.  Home side with a large margin in shots, 21-12 MTL. Almost at the games halfway mark.

Montreal getting rewarded for their pressure a squeaker plus snow angel combo makes it 3-1.  Gallagher gets credit and his 30th, a gift.

Captain resiliency coming through!  Another goal for the Wings first unit. scramble in front looked like Zetterberg but the official scoring has been ruled Bertuzzi’s.  It is Bert!  Great shift for the Wings who again turn what a rare bit of offensive pressure into a goal. One goal game, 3-2.

ASSESMENT

Detroit bridged the shot gap in the latter half of the second, 18-22 after 40.  It hasn’t been pretty, like much of this season, but, if Bertuzzi is let loose in the o-zone anything can happen in the third.  I’ve liked 59’s game tonight.

Final 20

The Wildcard factor is in the Montreal net.  Carey Price has looked shaky at best tonight relying predominantly on sound positioning for the bulk of his saves(not having to make great lateral lunges).  His rebound control has been un-Price like which I can only assume is an effect of the concussions that he suffered from this season.

TH3RD

Some great north south action to kick off the first 90 seconds of the final period.  Montreal doing a good job of holding Detroit to the perimeter on these zone entries.

Again, Paul Byron is just zipping around out there having himself a game, I can’t help but notice him.

Five minutes into this fast paced third and the 14-40-59 unit is buzzing.  Bertuzzi is crashing around like a bull in a china shop creating time, space and turnovers.

Just the second whistle of the third marks a TV timeout at the 13:10 mark.  Shots 25-20 Habs.  Wings look like they have another goal in them.

Hank agrees.

The game is still flowing without too many whistles as 14 minutes have bled off of the clock from the third.  This has created some rush opportunities for the Wings but has been much more beneficial for the Habs. Detroit hasn’t been able to drive anything hard through the slot or create any havoc in front of Price on a point shot opportunity.

Mantha with all sorts of room walks in and beats everyone but the bar.

Nyquist two for holding.

And that’ll cost ya.

Alex Galchenyuk.  Another squeaker. No words.

The Captain gets low bridged by Charles Hudon.

Off-setting roughing calls.  Nothing for the hit.

Tyler Bertuzzi serves up his own justice.

Coreau to the bench.

Marty Frk robbed by Price on the goal line.

Although they did keep up heavy pressure with the net empty Frk’s chance was as close as the Wings would come.  They drop a 4-3 decision to the Habs.

FINAL THOUGHTS

It always sucks losing to a divisional rival, and even more so the Habs.  But, they are now three points up on the Red Wings for the “fallin for Dahlin” sweepstakes.  A lack of screened shots on Price was a big difference maker tonight but still some positives to build on like the performance of Tyler Bertuzzi.

Who was your POG for Detroit tonight?

Gus Nyquist 12
Henrik Zetterberg 26
Marty Frk 3
Tyler Bertuzzi 134
Evgeny Svechnikov 6

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