The Montreal Canadiens clawed back after staking the Detroit Red Wings to an early three goal lead but were not able to complete the comeback.
GAME RECAP | Montreal Canadiens 4 vs Detroit Red Wings 5 | Final/OT
Canadiens Lineup
Forwards
22 Cole Caufield - 14 Nick Suzuki - 91 Sean Monahan
11 Brendan Gallagher - 28 Christian Dvorak - 17 Josh Anderson
70 Tanner Pearson- 71 Jake Evans - 20 Juraj Slafkovsky
40 Joel Armia - 13 Stephens - 56 Jesse Ylonen
Defensemen
8 Mike Matheson - 27 Gustav Lindstrom
21 Kaiden Guhle - 52 Justin Barron
47 Jayden Struble - 26 Johnathan Kovacevic
Goaltenders
Starter: 34 Jake Allen
Alternate: 30 Cayden Primeau
Out of the lineup
Scratches: Mattias Norlinder, Michael Pezzetta, Sam Montembeault
Injuries: Carey Price (knee), Chris Wideman (back), Kirby Dach (knee), David Savard (hand), Rafael Harvey-Pinard (lower body), Arber Xhekaj (upper body), Jordan Harris (lower body), Alex Newhook (lower body)
Game Report
The Montreal Canadiens deserve full credit for clawing their way back into this game and pushing the Red Wings to overtime to earn one point. But at the same time, they must be held accountable for yet another horrendous start. Montreal trailed 3-0 at the 19:20 mark of the first period.
The Canadiens do not have the firepower to regularly play catchup after an unprepared start. In the words of captain Nick Suzuki, "When you give a whole 20 minutes away, it's hard to win."
Fortunately, Justin Barron stemmed the tide scoring his fifth goal of the season with 6.1 seconds remaining in the opening frame.
Joel Armia scored in his second consecutive game since being recalled from the Laval Rocket. Armia notched his third of the season at the 4:07 mark of the second period while the Canadiens were shorthanded. On the same Detroit power play, Alex DeBrincat restored a two goal advantage for the Red Wings.
Montreal continued the comeback in the third period getting goals from Suzuki and former Red Wing Gustav Lindstrom. Suzuki's power play goal ended an 0-for-27 streak over the last nines games dating back to November 12th.
Detroit defenseman Jake Walman ended the game with the winner just 54 seconds into overtime.
Mitchell Stephens, who played 27 games for the Detroit Red Wings in 2021-22, made his Montreal Canadiens debut.
Game Statistics
Canadiens (10-11-3)
Shots: 30
Face-off %: 57.4
Power play: 1/5
Penalty minutes: 8
Hits: 11
Blocks: 14
Red Wings (13-7-3)
Shots: 33
Face-off %: 42.6
Power play: 1/4
Penalty minutes: 10
Hits: 14
Blocks: 21
Scoring Summary
Canadiens Scorers
1st period: Barron (5)
2nd period: Armia (3)-SHG
3rd period: Suzuki (7)-PPG, Lindstrom (3)
OT: --
SO: --
Red Wings Scorers
1st period: Veleno (6), Fischer (2)-SHG, Sprong (6)
2nd period: DeBrincat (13)-PPG
3rd period: --
OT: Walman (5)
SO: --
Goaltenders
MTL: Allen (OTL) 3-5-2
DET: Husso (W) 8-4-1
Canadiens Players of the Game
Nick Suzuki - Suzuki recorded a goal and an assist. It was the captain's 54th multipoint game. Suzuki was reunited on a line with Cole Caufield after an 11-game separation.
Joel Armia - Armia scored his third goal of the season in his ninth game.
Video Highlights
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYYARh1Yx2Q[/embed]
Post-game Quotes
Nick Suzuki
"We had a very bad first period and that can't happen to us. We cannot continue to dig our own grave. Yes, we fought and recovered, but that can't happen again."
Cole Caufield
"We have to be better prepared to start the games. This is unacceptable."
Up Next
The Canadiens will host the Seattle Kraken on Monday night at the Bell Centre. It will be a 7:30 pm. start time.
Be sure to bookmark THN.com/Montreal for year-round coverage of the Montreal Canadiens, Laval Rocket, and Habs prospects playing in leagues around the world.
