Red Wings keep pace in playoff chase

DETROIT -- Riley Sheahan scored two goals and the Detroit Red Wings held off the Montreal Canadiens for a 4-3 win at Joe Louis Arena on Thursday.
Luke Glendening also scored and Anthony Mantha got his first career NHL goal for Detroit (37-26-11). Mike Green had two assists and Petr Mrazek made 26 saves.

Detroit, which has made the Stanley Cup Playoffs in each of the past 24 seasons, are tied with the Philadelphia Flyers for the second wild card, but the Flyers have a game in hand. The Red Wings are one point behind the Boston Bruins for third place in the Atlantic Division with a game in hand.

"We got to win hockey games, period," Detroit coach Jeff Blashill said. "There'll be lots of other tough games for other teams but we have to win hockey games. We have to earn our way in and to do that you've got to win."
Tomas Plekanec, Paul Byron and Max Pacioretty scored for Montreal (34-35-6), which trailed 4-0 early in the third period. Ben Scrivens made 36 saves.
"Probably credit to them and misreads by us," Pacioretty said. "We made a couple of mistakes but it was a good bounce back in the third."

Pacioretty's goal 7:50 into the third period pulled the Canadiens to within 4-3. His shot from the right circle deflected in off the skate of Red Wings defenseman Niklas Kronwall. It was Pacioretty's 25th goal.
"In the end, all that matters is, we got the two points," Sheahan said.
Plekanec made it 4-1, 47 seconds into the third period with his 13th goal, on a shot from the inside edge of the left circle that hit Mrazek and trickled into the net.
Byron made it 4-2 when he poked in a rebound for his 10th goal at 4:16.

"They found a way how to come back [in] the game, but in the end it doesn't matter," Mrazek said. "You got two points and nobody's going to ask you in a couple days how you win the game."
Sheahan's 10th goal gave Detroit a 1-0 lead with 1:14 left in the first period. He backhanded in the rebound of Brendan Smith's shot. It was the second time the Red Wings have scored the first goal in their past 11 games.
Glendening and Sheahan scored 12 seconds apart early in the second period to make it 3-0.
Glendening beat Scrivens from the bottom of the right circle off a goal-mouth scramble 5:36 into the period for his seventh goal and third in four games. Sheahan's second goal of the game came on a breakaway at 5:48. He put a forehand shot past Scrivens and under the crossbar.

"In the second period they came at us with a lot of speed and you can't forget you had on our back side (defensemen), we don't have a lot of experience," Canadiens coach Michel Therrien said.
Mantha scored a power-play goal with 2:33 left in the second period off a rebound to make it 4-0. His parents were in attendance as well as his grandfather Andre Pronovost, who played for Montreal and Detroit during his NHL career. Pronovost won the Stanley Cup four times in a row with the Canadiens from 1956-60.
The Red Wings outshot the Canadiens 21-5 in the second period.
Montreal center David Desharnais returned after missing 17 games with a broken foot.