The atmosphere, the energy in the building, underscored how big a game it was, especially for the home team.
The Detroit Red Wings, fighting to stay in the playoff picture, hosted their Original Six foe, the Montreal Canadiens, in what turned out to be a goaltending duel between John Gibson and Jakub Dobes on Thursday, March 19, at Little Caesars Arena.
Alex DeBrincat scored with 3:25 to play when Mike Matheson lost the puck deep in his own zone and DeBrincat pounced, striding to the net and flicking a backhand into the net. That stood as the winning goal in a 3-1 victory that improved the Wings’ record to 38-23-8 with 13 games remaining.
Detroit Red Wings playoff picture
The regulation win tied the Red Wings (38-23-8, 84 points) with the Habs in the Atlantic Division, though Montreal has played one fewer game, giving them third in the standings, for now. The Wings, meanwhile, stayed in the second wild-card spot, for now, because …
Next up for the Red Wings
The Boston Bruins, who visit LCA on Saturday(8 p.m., ABC) also won to reach 84 points, with 13 games remaining, and hold onto the top wild-card spot. After the Bruins and Wings. the Ottawa Senators (visiting LCA on Tuesday) also won to reach 79 points with 14 games remaining. The Columbus Blue Jackets likewise won, reaching 83 points with 14 games to play.
Showtime and the ‘Cat strike again
With the Wings trailing by a goal, Patrick Kane, fresh off a two-goal performance Monday, showed off his future Hockey Hall of Fame skills early in the third period. Taking a pass from DeBrincat, Kane had the puck at the right point. He threaded a pass through the legs of Alex Newhook towards the net, where the puck deflected in off J.T. Compher. Kane also flipped the puck into Montreal’s zone on what became DeBrincat’s goal.
Andrew Copp returned to the lineup and scored an empty-net goal with 16.8 seconds on the clock – assisted by DeBrincat – but Dylan Larkin (lower body) remained sidelined.
An energetic start began with Emmitt Finnie having an open chance only for his shot to ring off the cross bar. From there, for the next several minutes, Gibson faced a barrage of shots as the Canadiens found ways to keep the puck in Detroit’s zone – to the point shots favored the Habs, 8-1, after five minutes. The Wings stayed diligent and DeBrincat set up a scoring chance late in the period when he fired a rocket from the left shot. Dobes was able to get in its way, and the puck squirted away from the net before Compher or Kane could get to the rebound.
The Wings ended up shorthanded with 2:21 to play in the period when Ben Chiarot knocked Zachary Bolduc into Gibson, leading to a pileup in Gibson’s net as his teammates, and then Bolduc’s teammates, joined the scrum.
There wasn’t the same pop from the Wings to start the second period, and two straight power plays didn’t generate much momentum. On the second, the first unit had possession of the puck for 91 straight seconds, but the Habs did a good job taking up lanes.
The Habs further won the second-period special teams battle when they went on a power play with 2:28 to play, needing just 13 seconds to convert when the puck came out to Juraj Slafkovsky in the slot and he made quick work to send it bar down for a 1-0 lead with 2:41 to play. Mason Appleton left the second period early after getting hit from behind when Moritz Seider bumped Nick Suzuki, who was off balance as he went into Appleton. Appleton fell awkwardly and grabbed his left knee as he went down, but returned for the third period.
Contact Helene St. James at hstjames@freepress.com. Read more on the Detroit Red Wings and sign up for our Red Wings newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Alex DeBrincat snipes win for Detroit Red Wings vs Canadiens
Reporting by Helene St. James, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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