The Canadiens set a new franchise record by winning their first 10 home games.
Although the game wasn't so entertaining for the Wings and their fans, the Canadiens paid tribute to Gordie Howe in a lovely pregame ceremony that had all the fans cheering.
1. Montreal Canadiens: Carey Price gets a lot of attention and deservedly so, but the Canadiens can score, too. Phillip Danault kicked things off at 4:17 of the first period, putting a rebound past Jimmy Howard. Paul Byron scored at 7:59 of the first on a breakaway. Then, with a two-man advantage, Shea Weber unleashed his booming shot from the point with one minute left in the first. In the second, the Canadiens had a goal waved off at 11:22 when officials ruled Byron pushed Howard's pad. But that didn't stop Montreal, who got a power-play goal from Andrew Shaw at 15:13 of the second and then a goal from Max Pacioretty at 16:49. And Price got his 38th career shutout, second against the Wings.
Quotable: "With all due respect to them, I'm looking at our team. They did a great job, they played a great game, but I didn't like our game. Was their forecheck hard? Yes. We got to do a better job of creating forecheck pressure on them. When you spend the whole time on your heels you don't have a chance to win. We got to get way better forecheck pressure and spend way more time in their end." - Wings coach Jeff Blashill
2. Jimmy Howard: Howard came into the game leading the league in both goals-against average and save percentage and both of those stats took a hit, although it was certainly not all his fault. Howard gave up the five goals on 25 shots. Petr Mrazek came out to start the third, getting some work for the first time in four games.
Quotable: "They're hounding the puck all night. They're a fast team through the neutral zone and they got in on the forecheck. They're tough to get off the puck, to knock off the puck. They showed why they're playing so great." - Howard
Quotable II: Jimmy's been great for us. Jimmy's numbers are unreal, he's been great for us. It certainly wasn't on him, it was on our hockey team." - Blashill
3. Anthony Mantha: Mantha was making his third career appearance against his hometown Canadiens. Playing on a line with Frans Nielsen and Tomas Tatar, plus getting power-play time, Mantha played 18:58, more than any other forward, and finished with two shots on net, two hits, one giveaway and two blocked shots.
Quotable: "For sure there's a few shifts you're trying to get used to it but I think overall it was pretty good. I was trying to be intense out there. I just tried to do my best. As the game went along I think I had a few good shifts, a few errors. I"m going to learn from them and come back stronger for the next game." - Mantha
