They’re the first-place Detroit Red Wings again.
The Wings went into Montreal on Saturday and in a battle for first place in the Atlantic Division came away with a convincing and impressive 4-0 victory.
Lucas Raymond and Dylan Larkin (power play) had second-period goals, and Alex DeBrincat added a third-period goal, as the Wings’ best offensive players were some of their best players, as was goaltender John Gibson, who stopped 27 shots and earned his third shutout, continuing his recent hot streak, winning his 12th decision in the last 14 games.
Andrew Copp’s empty-net goal ended the scoring.
The victory moved the Wings (27-15-4, 58 points) one point ahead of Tampa Bay (27-13-3, 57 points) and two ahead of Montreal (25-14-6, 56 points) in the standings.
The Wings also avenged an ugly 5-1, opening-night loss to Montreal that has become a distant memory.
“Pretty satisfying,” Larkin told Fan Duel Sports Network afterward. “How opening night went, kind of look at the game opening night and tonight, it shows how far we’ve come.”
BOX SCORE: Red Wings 4, Canadiens 0
Raymond opening the scoring with his 14th goal, and a goal in the third consecutive game, on the quirkiest of plays. James van Riemsdyk dumped the puck into the corner, where the puck hit a seam and came straight to the front of the net. Montreal goalie Jacob Fowler went behind the net to play the puck, and was nowhere near the crease, as Raymond easily scored at 4 minutes, 52 seconds of the second period.
“You try to do the right things and tonight, I got a bit of a freebie and I’ll take it,” Raymond told FDSN.
Raymond, also, pointed to opening night and how disappointing that loss was for the Wings.
“Opening night was far from how we want to play, and (shows) how far from that team we are right now,” Raymond said. “Very happy with tonight, how we played, and Gibby was unbelievable again.”
Gibson has a .932 save percentage over his last 14 starts.
“He’s huge for us,” Raymond said. “Playing against him, you knew he was a great goalie. But seeing him every day, and seeing how he takes care of himself, it’s incredible.”
After the Wings killed a Montreal power play, they finally converted on their fourth power-play attempt.
After Larkin won the draw, the puck got back to Moritz Seider, who found DeBrincat on the flank, and DeBrincat teed up Larkin for a one-timer, Larkin’s 23rd goal, at 11:43.
The Wings snuffed whatever hope the Canadiens had with DeBrincat’s 23rd goal just 34 seconds into the third period.
DeBrincat was left wide open in the slot after all five Canadiens drifted to Patrick Kane with the puck near the boards, and DeBrincat snapped a shot past Fowler.
The victory was pleasing for coach Todd McLellan, but McLellan told FDSN it was the way the Wings earned the victory that was satisfying.
“The process tonight, the fixes we made after opening night, we tried to adjust some things and all 20 (players) from the goalie on out, played a pretty solid game,” McLellan said.
tkulfan@detroitnews.com
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