After destroying the Buffalo Sabres 6-1 on Tuesday night and getting a new defenseman via trade on Wednesday night, the Montreal Canadiens were hoping to get a second win in as many games as they took on the Detroit Red Wings.
Unlike the Sabres, the Wings were not down in the dumps and when the Canadiens scored, they didn’t unravel, they came right back at them. Emil Heineman scored the first goal of the game when his quick release got the better of Cam Talbot who was playing a first game since Dec. 1 after being sidelined by a lower-body injury.
The puck went right in the netminder’s five-hole as he tried to squeeze the pads, but it was too little too late. Jake Evans, who was scoring in his 300rd game, got the promary assist on the play with Mike Matheson getting the secondary helper. The goal seemed to whip the Wings awake and they started pushing back which led to Patrick Kane scored an impressive goal from in close above Samuel Montembeault’s shoulder on the near post. Granted, the space shouldn’t have been there, but the hands on Kane are still as amazing as ever.
Shortly thereafter, Kirby Dach was sent to the box for high sticking, taking penalties has become a bit of a habit for him, but it wasn’t Detroit that scored while he was in the box, it was Montreal. Evans picked Lukas Raymond’s pocket and flew to the net where he scored a beauty to give the Canadiens a 2-1 lead. The center really stood out for the Canadiens tonight and the more he plays, the more he performs. Will he price himself out of Montreal or will he want to stay?
Related: Canadiens: A Fair Comparable For Jake Evans?
Less than a minute later, Jeff Petry launched a shot from the blueliner and Joe Veleno deflected it, taking everyone back to square one. After 20 minutes, it was 2-2 and both goalies had been very active. Montembeault faced 23 shots while Talbot saw 14.
In the first frame, there were a couple of occurrences on which the second line was trapped in the defensive zone, there was no harm done the first time, the second time it led to a Detroit goal and then, early in the second frame, it led to Patrik Laine taking a holding penalty.
Montreal was able to kill the man-advantage, but still, this second line formed by Alex Newhook, Dach and Laine needs to click at even strength. If your top six is not great at defending, it needs to be great at scoring. The Canadiens dominated the middle frame getting 10 shots on net while Detroit could only get five to Montembeault.
Through 40…