Suzuki, Allen lead Canadiens to 3-0 win over Red Wings
MONTREAL (AP) â Nick Suzuki had a goal and two assists, Jake Allen stopped 22 shots for his second shutout of the season, and the Montreal Canadiens beat the Detroit Red Wings 3-0 Tuesday night.
Josh Anderson scored his third of the season and Brendan Gallagher added an empty-netter for the Canadiens, who had lost three of their previous four games â all on the road.
âItâs been frustrating, obviously, but the only way to get through it is to keep working, keep grinding away,â Anderson said. âOnce you do that, youâre going to pull a lot of guys into the fight with you.â
Allen got his 23rd career shutout. Last Thursday, he made 45 saves against San Jose to get his first shutout with Montreal. He felt his teammates were more in control of this game.
âI thought it was our best game of the year,â Allen said. âWe were solid all over the ice and it looked easy for us, to be honest, and thatâs the way it should be when weâre all playing as one. I was really impressed with how they played.â
Alex Nedeljkovic finished with 39 saves for the Red Wings.
âThey were better than us from the first shift all the way to the last shift,â Detroit coach Jeff Blashill said. âThey played like it was a playoff game, we played like it was an exhibition game. That isnât even close to what we can do to be successful. We werenât even in the hemisphere of what we needed to do.
Montreal scored 2:06 after the opening puck drop as Suzuki got his first batting in his own rebound.
Anderson doubled the Canadiensâ lead midway through the first period as he entered Detroitâs zone from the left side all alone and beat Nedeljkovic with a his shot from the faceoff circle.
After allowing the two early goals, Nedeljkovic rallied in the second and third periods to give Detroit a chance at a comeback.
With Tyler Bertuzzi (unvaccinated) and Dylan Larkin (personal reasons) out of Detroitâs lineup, the Red Wings couldnât solve Allen.
âOur execution wasnât good enough, our work ethic wasnât good enough,â Blashill said. âIt was a 2-0 game, we had a chance to come out and have a great third period against a team thatâs just come off a West Coast trip, that lost a player early in Drouin and we didnât even come close to mustering up the effort.â
Gallagherâs empty-netter sealed Montrealâs second win of the season over Detroit.
Canadiens head coach Dominique Ducharme was satisfied with both the result and the way his team played.
âThatâs the way we play, thatâs our team,â Ducharme said. âThatâs what we need to do and itâs the first time that we do that for 60 minutes. We saw glimpses of that but we need to do that for 60 minutes. Itâs not more complicated than that.â
SCARY INJURY
Montreal forward Jonathan Drouin took a shot in the head from teammate Brett Kulak. Drouin hurried to the locker room and didnât return to the game. He was sent to the hospital for further evaluations.
âItâs always worrisome but the news is encouraging,â Ducharme said. âHe will get evaluated again tomorrow morning, but as of now, itâs encouraging.â
HONORED
Before the game, Allen was awarded the teamâs player-of-the-month award for October. He also had a shutout last Thursday against San Jose.
UP NEXT
Red Wings: At Boston on Thursday night.
Canadiens: Host the New York Islanders on Thursday night in the second of a five-game homestand.
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