In a night full of milestones in an Original Six matchup between the Detroit Red Wings and Montreal Canadiens, Dylan Larkin (700 games), Patrick Laine and Christian Dvorak (500 games), and Brendan Gallagher (800 games) all reached career milestones. Each of these players significantly factored in how the game ended. But by the end of the game, the Red Wings pulled out a 4-2 victory over the Canadiens.
Game Recap
Both teams grinded it out in the first half of the opening 20 minutes of play, with neither team getting many great chances on the opposing netminder. That changed when the Red Wings opened the scoring thanks to Larkin single-handedly leading a breakout into the offensive zone and making a smart play with the puck to chip it around Lane Hutson.
He then beat him to the puck in the corner to find Jonatan Berggren for a quick snap shot to beat Canadiens netminder Sam Montembeault blocker side for a 1-0 lead 13 minutes in. The Red Wings found themselves empty on a late-period power play opportunity. Still, they built off momentum on said man advantage, and Alex DeBrincat scored his 20th goal of the season with just under three seconds left in the period to give the Red Wings a 2-0 lead after the opening frame.
The Canadiens power play, like Detroit’s, failed to cash in on an opportunity early on in the second period. Instead, the Red Wings scored a shorthanded goal thanks to a blocked shot by Simon Edvinsson springing Andrew Copp all alone for a breakaway on Montembeault to make it a 3-0 game. The Canadiens bounced back quickly, with Kirby Dach cashing in on a wrap-around goal (with Gallagher and Dvorak both tallying assists) after a scrum in front of Red Wings netminder Cam Talbot less than two minutes after Copp’s goal to bring the Canadiens within two. It pushed the score to 3-1.
Larkin once again found himself on the scoresheet, scoring his 12th power-play goal of the season just before the halfway mark of the game before the Canadiens fought back again. Kaiden Guhle found the back of the net thanks to Dach’s presence in front of Talbot, scoring from the point with some help from a screen by the big forward. The Red Wings held a 4-2 lead heading into the third period.
Montembeault and Talbot dominated the final 20 minutes of the game. Both netminders made several huge saves to keep the score at 4-2 in favor of the Red Wings. The Canadiens made a push with an empty net in the game’s final three minutes, but the Red Wings held them off for a 4-2 win.
Talbot made 28 saves on 30 shots in the win, while Montembeault stopped 41 of 45. The Red Wings move to 21-21-5 and will play the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday (Jan. 25). The Canadiens fall to 24-20-4 and will play the New Jersey Devils on Saturday.
