MONTREAL, QUE – Jake Walman scored 54 seconds into overtime, and the Detroit Red Wings beat the Montreal Canadiens 5-4 on Saturday night for their fifth win in six games.
Walman, Alex DeBrincat and Daniel Sprong each had a goal and an assist for Detroit, which blew a 3-0 lead in regulation. Joe Veleno and Christian Fischer also scored, and Ville Husso made 26 saves.
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Walman converted a slap shot from the left circle. It was his fifth goal of the season.
“It’s hard to win in this league and it’s even harder to win on the road, so I love that we got two full points," Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde said. "I didn’t hate (the third period), but we had a lot of looks and could’ve easily got our fifth goal and iced the game.
“A little fatigue crept into our game, probably some mistakes that were a little self-inflicted. Credit to them, they were pushing hard so good on the guys to hang in there.”
Justin Barron, Joel Armia, Nick Suzuki, Gustav Lindstrom scored for Montreal, which lost for the third time in four games. Jake Allen made 28 stops.
“We had a lot of guys that weren’t ready, it happens. It’s really difficult to get going in this league when you don’t start right and shoot yourself in the foot,” Canadiens coach Martin St Louis said.
“Not having your legs ready or being a bit out of rhythm is one thing, but lots of turnovers, we were starting their offense for them.”
The Red Wings controlled the tempo early, enjoying long stints of possession in the offensive zone and preventing Montreal from registering a shot in the first 10 minutes.
Veleno, a Montreal native, made it 1-0 when he scored his sixth goal 7:21 into the first period. Fischer added a short-handed goal at 11:44, and Sprong beat Allen on the blocker side with 40 seconds left.
Montreal got on the board late in the opening period when Barron fired home a rebound from the slot.
“We just seemed to keep turning the puck over and making dumb mistakes at our blue line and their blue line. When you give a whole 20 minutes away, it’s hard to win,” Suzuki said.
Armia made it 3-2 when he sent a shot over Husso’s glove for a short-handed goal 4:07 into the second. But DeBrincat restored the Red Wings’ two-goal lead less than a minute later from a tight angle.
Montreal got one back to start the third when Suzuki picked the top corner while on the power play. It was the Canadiens first goal with the man advantage in 28 attempts, since their Nov. 12 loss to Vancouver.
Montreal kept up its pressure late in the third, and Lindstrom tied it at 4 with 3:59 to go. It was his third goal of the season.
UP NEXT
Red Wings: Visit Buffalo on Tuesday.
Canadiens: Host the Seattle Kraken on Monday.
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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl