CANADIENS
Montreal

RED WINGS
Detroit

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.

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▲  Tomas Tatar, Tomas Plekanec

▼  Victor Mete

1. Tomas Plekanec  MTL
2. Tomas Tatar  MTL
3. Jonathan Drouin  MTL

• 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