PREVIEW: Detroit determined to bounce back in Montreal on Saturday

MONTREAL -- Quickly jetting north of the border for the second half of their first back-to-back set of the 2026-27 season, the Detroit Red Wings will take on the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre on Saturday night.

“We can just go on the road, battle hard,” Alex DeBrincat said after Friday night’s 6-3 loss to the Seattle Kraken at Little Caesars Arena. “We’re playing the same game. We just got to be ready to play — take two points on the road.”

Detroit (1-3-0; 2 points) and Montreal (1-2-1; 3 points) will drop the puck at 7 p.m. ET, with broadcast coverage on Detroit SportsNet and the Red Wings Radio Network (97.1 The Ticket in Detroit). This is the lone meeting of the season between these Atlantic Division foes at Bell Centre, with the other two set for Little Caesars Arena on Feb. 18 and March 20.

While the Red Wings wanted a better result not only against the Kraken but also their season-opening, four-game homestand, DeBrincat emphasized they’re focused on moving forward and learning from those performances.

“There’s so much hockey left, so we can’t get down on ourselves,” DeBrincat said. “We know what we can do. We’re confident in the way we’ve been playing, obviously other than the second period (on Friday night), and in our game. It’s just a little way we can get better, look at the tape and keep moving along.”

Head coach Todd McLellan said Detroit did just that on Saturday morning, resetting for its first road game of the campaign. 

“I don’t want to say we have to leave the past behind us, because we have to address it and we did,” McLellan said. “We met this morning, and we talked about what we liked and what we didn’t like. Now, we got to move on. We have got to play against a real good, Stanley Cup championship-caliber team here in Montreal. It’s back to back for us. We’re going to need each other. We’re going to need some structure. We’re going to have to play real good. We’re going to need some goaltending tonight.”

Speaking of goaltending, Daniil Tarasov is expected to make his first start with the Red Wings Saturday night, less than 24 hours after he stopped eight of the nine shots he faced in relief against Seattle. 

“Since my first day, I’ve really enjoyed being here,” Tarasov recently said. “We have a great group of guys. Everyone takes care of each other, and I’ve just been really welcomed here. I explored some things (in the city) when I first got here, so it’s been really easy to adjust to everything outside of hockey and on the ice. This group has been close to the playoffs the last few years and I’m just hoping I can help them take that step.”

Tarasov signed a one-year, free-agent contract with Detroit this summer after posting a 13-15-3 record with a 3.05 goals-against average and .895 save percentage in 33 games with the Florida Panthers last season.

“Last year was kind of a huge improvement for me,” Tarasov said. “Being around (Sergei Bobrovsky) and watching him prepare for games, how he takes care of himself, how he rests between games – all of that was huge for me and how I improved. I felt (last season) I had more energy and trusted myself. I’m going to be 100 percent ready for any kind of moment, whether that’s back-to-backs or starting multiple games. I’m going to prepare myself to be ready at any second for when I’m needed.”

The Canadiens have allowed 19 goals through their first four games, an average of 4.75 per contest. Their winless streak reached three straight games with a 5-2 loss to the visiting Nashville Predators on Thursday night.