First period
- The crowd is giving early wave energy in this game.
- Alexandre Carrier fires a stretch pass right onto the stick of Nick Suzuki for a breakaway, but the captain’s shot goes wide. I’ve really liked Carrier’s game recently. He’s been creating some good things, and come in on a three-game point streak as a result.
- Ivan Demidov collects the puck at hs blue line and leads a two-on-one with Oliver Kapanen. He gets the puck through, and Kapanen’s shot squeaks through John Gibson, but doesn’t have enough pace to get over the line.
- Lucas Raymond fires a short-side shot off the post as both team come close to opening the scoring on back-to-back shifts.
- Joe Veleno flubs what looked like an easy clear out of his zone, and that extends the Red Wings’ zone team, leading to a Carrier holding-the-stick penalty. The Habs will see the league’s sixth-round power play in action.
- Montreal defended quite well, though a rough turnover right to their slot allowed the Red Wings an open shot that went off the post.
- Brendan Gallagher attempts a stick-lift on Mason Appleton and catches him in the face instead. Detroit will go right back on the power play.
- The crowd is dead silent while the puck is on Detroit’s sticks in the offensive zone.
- Detroit generated little of anything on that power play. Montreal’s structure is holding.
- The Red Wings are really cheating for stretch passes in this period.
- The checking is tight and shots aren’t easy to come by. Montreal did fairly well to hold Detroit to six shots considering the Red Wings spent a fifth of the period on the penalty kill.
Second period
- Texier grabs the shoulders of J.T. Compher at the end of a long shift, and Detroit is back on the power play.
- Mike Matheson shifts too far to the corner and allows Dylan Larkin to slide right across the top of the crease for a chance, but Jacob Fowler makes a big pad save.
- Another penalty killed. Now Montreal needs to start generating something of its own.
- Hutson helps make that happen with a couple of laps around the offensive zone.
- A Detroit dump-in bounces off the glass and goes right to the slot. Fowler went to play it and couldn’t get back to stop Raymond from opening the scoring.
- Emmett Finnie grabs on to Noah Dobson’s stick, and now Montreal will get its first chance on the power play.
- Montreal seems more happy to have the open space to make passes.
- The second unit has the right idea. Oliver Kapanen gains the zone and slings it across to Zachary Bolduc for a quick one-timer, but Gibson makes that save.
- Montreal had another penalty before the mid-period ad break apparently. Detroit capitalizes on this power play as Larkin goes far-side to make it 2-0.
- It’s not looking like we’ll see the wave tonight.
- The Habs are starting to make things happen now, but so far the shots aren’t really testing Gibson. The usual cross-ice setups aren’t being left open by Detroit.
- It was an encouraging end to the period as Montreal was finally able to make some plays in the offensive zone. If the Red Wings collapse like that in the third, the Canadiens will have a chance to get their goals.
Third period
- The period barely begins, and it’s 3-0 Detroit. Alex DeBrincat was left alone in the slot, and Fowler could only guess where the puck was going to go off his stick.
- Montreal getting outshot in this period while also being down three goals isn’t what you want to see.
- Suzuki is getting booed now because he worked his way into a shooting position 10 feet from the net then passed the puck to Texier who was covered by two players. Definitely not a wave mood at the Bell Centre now.
- Kapanen finishes his check on Moritz Seider, then gives the defenceman a little punch in the side of the head. He’ll go off for roughing.
- Matheson sends a pass off Gallagher’s stick at the side of the net, but Gallagher’s deflection goes high and wide.
- Fowler goes to the bench with over four minutes to play and his team down three.
- The puck falls to Kapanen at the side of the net. All he had to do is bat it in. The mid-air shot goes wide.
- Andrew Copp hits the empty net to make it 4-0 Detroit, ending a frustrating night for the Canadiens.
- The players are not happy about getting shut out in this game. The Vancouver Canucks might be in a bad time on Monday.
EOTP 3 Stars
3) Just doing the absolute minimum until the playoffs arrive and they’ve loved the Habs all along
2) There’s a kid who ate his vegetables
1) The old hit-and-run-and-hit-again
