All eyes had been on Mike Matheson blowing a tire on Alex Debrincat’s game-winning purpose with 3:25 left in regulation for the Crimson Wings in a 3-1 victory over the Canadiens
(37-21-10)
on Thursday evening at Little Caesars Enviornment in Detroit.
However for coach Martin St. Louis, his glare was targeted squarely on second-liners Alex Newhook, Oliver Kapanen and Ivan Demidov. Newhook and Kapanen performed a team-low 9:34 and 9:33 respectively, whereas the three had been a mixed minus-4.
Former linemate Juraj Slafkovsky wasn’t any higher within the plus-minus division on the highest line — he was minus-2 — however he scored the group’s lone purpose and broke the group’s three-game drought on the facility play within the course of.
In a decent recreation that offered an early style of playoff hockey, goaltender Jakub Dobes shined in his second consecutive begin. He made 25 saves within the loss.
Ahead Josh Anderson is out day-to-day with an upper-body damage and defenceman Arber Xhekaj was a wholesome scratch, so the Habs had been missing within the measurement division. The scoreless first interval nonetheless ended up that includes a good quantity of skirmishes, together with when Zachary Bolduc was shoved into Wings goaltender John Gibson.
Issues are getting ROUGH in Detroit 👀 pic.twitter.com/440PPDoLPQ
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) March 19, 2026
The primary purpose of the evening solely got here late within the second interval. With 2:15 left within the body, Slafkovsky scored his thirteenth power-play purpose of the marketing campaign, and twenty fifth general. He’s a point-per-game participant since December and is presently driving a five-game level scoring streak.
Slafkovsky a un level à chacun de ses cinq derniers matchs!Make {that a} 5-game level streak for Slafkovsky!#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/iBk7xwFLvM
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) March 20, 2026
Detroit responded with three unanswered targets within the third interval. At 2:14 into the third, Patrick Kane fired a shot from the nook of the purpose that crusing broad, but it surely hit J.T. Compher and landed behind the web.
JT in entrance! #LGRW pic.twitter.com/TTu4xNGW4B
— Detroit Crimson Wings (@DetroitRedWings) March 20, 2026
The Liveblog commenters on the
Hockey Inside Out YouTube livestream
thought it was Noah Dobson’s accountability to maintain Compher tied up, however the Canadiens coach issued a dressing down of Newhook on the bench as a substitute.
Martin St-Louis était furieux au banc après le however des Crimson Wings 😬 pic.twitter.com/lDM4eP6F8q
— TVA Sports activities (@TVASports) March 20, 2026
Then the Habs coughed it up late. First, Jake Evans missed a backhand on a wide-open internet. After the puck went down the ice, Matheson mishandled taking part in the puck off the wall and Debrincat picked his pocket earlier than lifting a backhand over Dobes for the winner. It was his thirty fourth purpose of the season and a centesimal as a Crimson Wing. He added an help on the Andrew Copp empty-netter.
MIKE MATHESON GIVES IT AWAY AND ALEX DEBRINCAT SCORES LATE TO TAKE THE LEAD 👀🤯 pic.twitter.com/Afy0HCvSET
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) March 20, 2026
The loss had quick repercussions on the Jap Convention standings. The Crimson Wings, Bruins and Blue Jackets all gained. So did the Senators as they appear to maintain their faint postseason hopes alive.
The Habs at the moment are tied with the Wings and Bruins with 84 factors, with Montreal holding a recreation in hand. The Jackets at the moment are even with the Islanders with 83 factors, good for third within the Metropolitan Division. It additionally retains them within the wild-card image.
If coach St. Louis has really had it along with his second line, how can he juggle the lineup earlier than his membership meets the Islanders on Saturday? Based on Hockey Stat Playing cards, Phillip Danault and Brendan Gallagher had a powerful evening on the fourth line. Joe Veleno introduced good power in his first recreation since Feb. 4.
NHL GameScore Affect Card for Montreal Canadiens on 2026-03-19: pic.twitter.com/pUioEAOKXW
— HockeyStatCards (@hockeystatcards) March 20, 2026
You may’ve additionally seen the tough rating handed to Dobson. Adam Engstrom is wholesome once more in Laval and David Reinbacher simply signed on with a brand new company, Quartexx Administration. Might certainly one of them get a name to assist shore up the defence? The Liveblog commenters had been fairly excessive on Reinbacher’s current play. Right here’s what they needed to say concerning the recreation:
