A trio of underperforming Detroit forwards broke lengthy scoring droughts in the team’s last game. The Red Wings will aim to build off that outing in a home-and-home set with Montreal that begins Friday in Detroit.
Patrick Kane scored the decisive third-period goal in a 6-4 win over Philadelphia on Wednesday. The future Hall of Famer ended a 10-game goalless stretch with a shot from the left circle.
J.T. Compher scored his first goal in 22 games on a power play during the first period.
“I feel like my game’s been trending in a good direction. You want to produce,” Compher said. “I pride myself in a lot more than scoring goals. I feel like I’ve been doing a lot of those things, but you still want to see one go in.”
Joe Veleno scored just his second goal of the season as the Red Wings won for the third time in four games. They are still below .500 but expect to change that with five of their next six games at home to close out 2024.
“We had some things in mind going into these games before the (holidays), playing here at home,” Kane said. “There’s been some good energy from the crowd the last couple of games and from the team, too. We’ve been ready to play and been finding ways to produce offensively and play well defensively. It’s nice to get a couple in a row, too.”
The Wings are now 7-7-2 at home.
“We’ve done our job on the road, which is a credit to our guys,” Detroit coach Derek Lalonde said. “If you’re going to stay in this battle, and push to be in this battle, you have to take care of home ice, and for the most part, we’ve been just OK. But this little run of late is a positive. We have to keep winning our games and earning points at home.”
The Canadiens, who are 4-3-0 in their last seven games, are coming off Tuesday’s 6-1 home victory over Buffalo behind Patrik Laine’s three power-play goals. Laine has six goals in seven games since recovering from a knee injury.
Laine was acquired from Columbus during the offseason. He appeared in just 18 games last season due to a broken clavicle and a six-month stint in the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program.
“Obviously, it’s nice to have. Any time you have a threat, a weapon, especially on the power play, that just makes you a lot more deadly,” forward Josh Anderson told the Montreal Gazette. “It’s nice. Special teams are so important these days. It has won games. It obviously gave us a huge boost (Tuesday).”
With Laine and Cole Caufield (17 goals), the Canadiens have a formidable scoring duo on the power play.
“We have more weapons with Patty. It’s about finding a way to have predictability for us and unpredictability for the other team,” coach Martin St-Louis said. “They can move around, change spots sometimes, because the opponent has to respect both of them. We’re learning how to play together on the power play and how we can maximize everybody’s strengths.”
–Field Level Media
