The Habs were feeling the pressure early, allowing 6 shots on net within the first 5 minutes played as Detroit came out fierce and ready to compete to punch their 24th consecutive playoff ticket. The Habs regained some momentum after killing a penalty, and despite being outshot 7-2 by the midway point in the first period, were keeping up to the Red Wings in possession, trailing 7.2 – 6.8 in score-adjusted 5 v 5 CF. Alas, the Red Wings would draw first blood after Pavel Datsyuk stripped the puck from Brendan Gallagher and fed a perfect saucer pass to Tomas Tatar who wrested one in for his 29th goal of the season.
After the Red Wings scored, the Habs started to hit the net with their shots and overtook the possession lead and evened out the shots on goal. It’s hard to assess effect of the absence of Max Pacioretty after one period, but as a team the Habs will have to move forward without him while he is recovering from his injury. “No Excuses”, after all. Andrei Markov, another of this team’s leaders, stepped up with a goal with 2:24 remaining in the period to draw these teams even, 1-1.
Scoring Summary
| 1ST PERIOD | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10:19 | DET | Tomas Tatar (29) Wrist shot – ASST: Pavel Datsyuk (39), Henrik Zetterberg (48) | 1 – 0 DET | |
| 17:36 | MTL | Andrei Markov (10) Slapshot – ASST: P.K. Subban (44) | 1 – 1 Tie | |
Penalty Summary
| 1ST PERIOD | ||
|---|---|---|
| 06:21 | MTL | David Desharnais Holding – 2 min against Riley Sheahan |
Shots
| PERIOD | DET | MTL |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | 9 | 9 |
| Total | 9 | 9 |
Team Stats
| CATEGORY | DET | MTL |
|---|---|---|
| Power Plays | 0/1 | 0/0 |
| Hits | 12 | 6 |
| Faceoff Wins | 8 | 11 |
| Giveaways | 6 | 10 |
| Takeaways | 1 | 2 |
| Blocked Shots | 3 | 2 |
| Penalty Minutes | 0 | 2 |
