Canadiens cruise past Red Wings for 1st win of season

DETROIT -- Jakub Dobes made 30 saves to help the Montreal Canadiens defeat the Detroit Red Wings 5-1 at Little Caesars Arena on Thursday.

Mike Matheson had a goal and an assist, and Brendan Gallagher and Nick Suzuki each had two assists for Montreal (1-1-0), which lost 5-2 at the Toronto Maple Leafs in its season opener on Wednesday.

“I think we’ve been good in both games,” Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis said. “These guys have bought into the team game. There is a commitment to do the things the game asks you to do.”

Dylan Larkin scored for Detroit in its season opener. John Gibson allowed five goals on 13 shots in his Red Wings debut before being removed at 17:12 of the second period. Cam Talbot made four saves in relief.

“We just played the game,” Red Wings coach Todd McLellan said. “We didn’t play to win the game.”

After allowing an early first-period goal, Dobes shut out Detroit the rest of the way.

“He’s a young goalie with a crazy style,” Canadiens forward Juraj Slafkovsky said. “I laugh when I watch him play, because I don’t know how he makes it work. Somehow, he does.”

The Red Wings scored on their first power play of the season. Patrick Kane took the puck below the goal line and faked to go behind the net before slipping a pass to Larkin, who beat Dobes at 3:50 of the first period for a 1-0 lead.

Zack Bolduc tied the game 1-1 at 10:14, getting behind the Red Wings defense and beating Gibson for his second goal of the season. Bolduc has scored in each of his first two games with Montreal after being traded from the St. Louis Blues on July 1.

“I think we’ve got a lot of talent and we’re dangerous all over the lineup,” Canadiens forward Jake Evans said. “We’re a tougher team to defend and the new guys like Zack are part of that.”

Oliver Kapanen made it 2-1 at 12:43, finishing off a rink-length passing move by putting in Alex Newhook’s cross-slot pass. The forward scored his first NHL goal on Wednesday against Toronto.

“There were six or seven odd-numbered rushes in the first period from the 10-minute mark on,” McLellan said. “That’s unacceptable.”

The Canadiens went end-to-end again in the dying seconds of the period, with Matheson scoring from the slot to put Montreal up 3-1 at 19:53.

“Our collective game is being connected on both sides of the puck -- offensively and defensively,” St. Louis said. “We look really fast at times, because our collective game gives us predictability.”

Alexandre Carrier scored on Montreal’s first shot of the second period to take a 4-1 lead. His long wrist shot sailed over Gibson’s shoulder at 5:19.

Slafkovsky made it 5-1 on the power play at 17:12.

“It is even more disappointing because it was such a special night,” Larkin said. “The crowd was so good, and we had three guys playing in their first NHL games.

“You always want to make that special, but there wasn’t much going on out there that was special.”

NOTES: Kane’s assist on the game-opening goal gave him 852, moving into a tie with Bobby Clarke for 26th place on the NHL’s all-time list. … Defenseman Axel Sandin-Pellikka and forwards Michael Brandsegg-Nygard and Emmitt Finnie were the three Red Wings making their NHL debuts. That was the most for Detroit since five players, including Filip Hronek and Michael Rasmussen, made their debut against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Oct. 4, 2018.