DETROIT – Getting two massive standings points against an Original Six and Atlantic Division rival inside a fully charged Little Caesars Arena, the Detroit Red Wings scored three unanswered third-period goals in a 3-1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night.
“It’s fun to play in games like that,” said Alex DeBrincat, who netted the go-ahead goal and added a pair of assists for his second straight three-point game. “The crowd was really in it, so a pretty cool game to be a part of and hopefully we can just keep this thing rolling.”
Detroit (38-23-8; 84 points) also saw Andrew Copp find the back of an empty net in his return to the lineup after missing the past three games because of a lower-body injury and goaltender John Gibson finish with 32 saves. Across the ice, netminder Jakub Dobeš made 25 saves for Montreal (37-21-10; 84 points).
“A playoff environment,” Red Wings head coach Todd McLellan said. “On the ice, there was a lot of competitive battles and emotion, but also off the ice you could really feel it…The energy that was in the building, you could feel it. It’s been there before, but this was heightened.”
With so much at stake, Gibson and Dobeš came ready to play and combined for 20 saves in a scoreless first period. Things got a little feisty near the end of the frame, as a big scrum ensued inside Detroit’s net after Ben Chiarot -- he later went to the the penalty box for roughing -- collided with Zachary Buldoc who ended up on Gibson.
“Every night that he plays, Talbs too, but Gibby’s been huge for us,” J.T. Compher said. “A lot’s asked of me, a lot’s asked of him too and he’s been delivering for us.”
Copp drew a holding penalty against Alexandre Carrier to give the Red Wings their first power play of the night 4:13 into the second period, but they couldn’t capitalize. Soon after, Detroit went back to the man advantage when Lane Hutson took an interference penalty on Alex DeBrincat at 7:54, yet the Canadiens’ penalty kill held firm once again.
But at 17:45 of the second period, just 13 seconds into Montreal’s second power play of the game, it was Juraj Slafkovský who scored the icebreaker when he sniped home the rebound of Cole Caufield’s shot from along the goal line to put Detroit behind 1-0.
With 42 seconds left before the second intermission, Mason Appleton was helped off the ice following a collision in the corner. The 30-year-old forward was back out there for the final frame.
“We talked about it between the second and third, that we’re okay,” McLellan said. “We’re going to be in a lot of these types of games down the stretch. We’re down by one, you’re allowed to play the full 60. We knew we needed it, and we talked about needing one just to get a point or two anyhow, so now we’re scratching and clawing to get back in.”
Finally getting one past Dobeš, the Red Wings tied things up when Patrick Kane’s point shot deflected in off Compher from up close to make it 1-1 at 2:14 of the final frame. Compher’s 10th goal of the season was also aided by a secondary assist from DeBrincat.
“It’s that time of the year when the ice gets a little smaller,” said Compher, who has logged four points (two goals, two assists) in his last four contests. “There’s not as much time and you got to be around the net, especially when I’m playing with two guys that like to shoot the puck.”
