RECAP | Red Wings – Canadiens: Habs Plekanec Writes His Story

By
Rick Stephens
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Tomas Plekanec
Tomas Plekanec (Photo by Canadiens.com)

 

FINAL  | Game 5, Home Game 3 | Monday October 15, 2018
Bell Centre, Montreal, QC.

CANADIENS
Montreal

 teamlogo_canadiens

7-3

RED WINGS
Detroit

Tomas Plekanec (Photo by Canadiens.com)

Lineup

Forward lines and defense pairings 

[one_half]Tatar – Danault – Gallagher
Byron – Kotkaniemi – Armia
Drouin – Domi – Lehkonen
Hudon – Plekanec – Peca
[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Mete – Petry
Reilly – Juulsen
Ouellet – Benn

[/one_half_last]

Goaltenders

Niemi
Price

Scratches

Alzner, Scherbak, Shaw (flu)

Injuries

Weber, Schlemko, De la Rose, Deslauriers

Game Report 

It was Tomas Plekanec’s night playing his 1000th NHL game and he didn’t disappoint having a big hand in writing the game story.

Facing a fragile Red Wings squad, Plekanec scored the Canadiens second goal of the night in story-book fashion. According to the NHL, Plekanec became the fourth Canadiens player to score in his 1,000th NHL game, joining Henri Richard, Larry Robinson and Alex Kovalev.

The rest of the game, was a typical Plekanec effort: playing tough minutes, killing penalties and winning faceoffs.

And after the Canadiens posted a dominant win, Plekanec reiterated his love of the city and it’s fans saying, “I love to play here in the Bell Centre.”

It was one of those rare nights where the Canadiens got more than their fair share of the breaks. In the first, the Habs played one of their worst periods of this young season but went to the dressing room with a 3-1 lead. Michel Therrien would call it “puck luck.”

Red Wings forward Gustav Nyquist explained an atrocious Detroit second period saying, “When we get a couple of goals against us, we fold.”

Detroit head coach Jeff Blashill was direct saying that his team spent the second period “cheating, hoping for offence.” As a result, the Canadiens scored three more times with Red Wings starter Jimmy Howard giving way to Jonathan Bernier.

With 34 minutes left in the game, overzealous Habs fans began singing “Ole, Ole.”

Detroit carried the play in the third period, briefly making the game interesting by scoring twice. Paul Byron put an end to any comeback after a strong drive to the net by Joel Armia.

===

▲  Tomas Tatar, Tomas Plekanec

▼  Victor Mete
 Statistics 
CANADIENS   RED WINGS
35 Shots 28
43 Face-offs 57
1-for-5 Power Play 1-for-2
11 Penalty Minutes 17
18 Hits 39
60 Corsi For 66
 Scoring
 FINAL 1 2 3 OT SO T
 Canadiens (3-1-1) 3 3 1 – – 7
 Red Wings (0-4-2) 1 0 2 – – 3
Scorers Goalies
  • MTL: Drouin (1)-penalty shot, Plekanec (1), Tatar (3), Gallagher (3), Hudon (2), Drouin (2)-PPG, Byron (3)
  • DET: Athanasiou (1), Athanasiou (2), Vanek (1)-PPG
  • MTL: Niemi (W) 2-0-0
  • DET: Howard (L) 1-0-1, Bernier
 NHL Three Stars

NHL3stars
  1. Tomas Plekanec  MTL
  2. Tomas Tatar  MTL
  3. Jonathan Drouin  MTL
 Video Highlights 
 Post-game Press Conference
Claude Julien

  • On Plekanec’s energy in his 1000th game: “He looked like a guy who had drank from the Fountain of Youth tonight.”

Tomas Tatar

  • “Obviously I was focused on my team here, but it’s always special to play against Detroit. It’s fun against my old friends, but obviously a big win.”

Quotes courtesy of NHL.com
 Social Media: Follow @AllHabs on Twitter
https://twitter.com/Habsterix/status/1052000945880481792

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