Game 32: Montreal Canadiens @ Detroit Red Wings
Start time: 7:00 PM EST / 4:00 PM PST
In the Canadiens region: TSN2 (English), RDS (French)
In the Red Wings region: FanDuel Sports Network Detroit
Streaming: ESPN+, RDS, TSN+
For a group of Montreal Canadiens players who saw playoffs at the end of their regular season before it got under way, ending up in last place in the conference wasn’t what they expected, yet that’s where they had been since November 7. Thanks to the Buffalo Sabres falling off a cliff in the month of December, the Habs have been able to leapfrog one Atlantic Division rival to escape the basement. Now it’s the Detroit Red Wings they have in their sights, with a home-and-home set providing the chance to make another overtake.
All three of those teams mentioned had designs on better things. In Detroit’s case, an up-and-down start to the season essentially saw them alternate three-goal wins and three-goal losses, leaving them right in the middle of the rankings where they’ve now been for several years. Oddly enough, once they settled into more consistent play, there were more losses than wins. Like we saw with Montreal a year ago, they’re struggling to win one-goal games, going 3-6-2 in those close battles since November 16.
Detroit has won three of its past four matches, however, being one of the teams to contribute to Buffalo’s 11-game losing streak, but also splitting two games with the Philadelphia Flyers and beating the Toronto Maple Leafs on Hockey Night in Canada last week. The Red Wings have scored 16 goals in that time to gain a bit of offensive momentum.
| Canadiens | Statistics | Red Wings |
|---|---|---|
| 12-16-3 | Record | 13-14-4 |
| 47.3% (28th) | Scoring-chances-for % | 47.4% (27th0 |
| 2.81 (23rd) | Goals per game | 2.68 (25th) |
| 3.65 (31st) | Goals against per game | 3.16 (24th) |
| 22.0% (14th) | PP% | 24.7% (8th) |
| 81.1% (11th) | PK% | 67.9% (31st0 |
| 1-0-3 | Head-to-Head Record (23-24) | 3-0-1 |
Detroit has a good power play, running around 25%, one thing that’s working well for them this season. Dylan Larkin and Alex DeBrincat have six goals each on the man advantage, half of the total they’ve posted so far this season. Lucas Raymond joins those two as players with at least 12 goals so far (despite being the setup man not the finisher on special teams). Outside of those three, no player is on pace for even 20 goals, leaving the club in the bottom half of the goals-per-game rankings despite their power-play prowess.
One of the first things you check after Patrik Laine’s debut and emergence as a power-play menace is how the opponent fares on the penalty kill. The general answer in Detroit’s case is “not well” as they sit second-last in the league, killing off about two of every three penalties they’ve been given. But this stretch of improved play correlates with better results while down a player, as they have only allowed five goals on the penalty kill in December.
Just as they started to figure out that situation, they were dealt a significant blow in Wednesday’s win over the Flyers when Simon Edvinsson left with an injury, one that sounds like it could keep him out for at least this set with Montreal. The 21-year-old has quickly become Detroit’s most reliable defensive defenceman, taking over as Moritz Seider’s partner and carrying the best expected-goal share of the team’s blue-liners. The penalty kill won’t be nearly as effective without his services.
That means a chance for more offence from Lane Hutson, who added another two assists last game to bring his season point total to 22, and his point haul to 11 in the past 10 games when he’s been held off the scoresheet only once. It was in a back-to-back set that started in Detroit that Hutson made his NHL debut at the end of last season, showing a brief glimpse of the skill he was going to provide the Canadiens. He has good memories of playing the Red Wings, and he could be about to make a few more this weekend.
