Red Wings Beat Canadiens in Original Six Matchup

On a night when their Original Six rivalry was honored with a pre-game ceremony, the Detroit Red Wings defeated the Montreal Canadiens, 4-1.

Former Canadiens Jean Beliveau, Dickie Moore, Jean-Guy Talbot, Stephane Richer, and Claude Lemieux and former Red Wings Gordie Howe, Ted Lindsay, Alex Delvecchio, Marcel Pronovost, and Marcel Dionne were all on hand for the ceremony. Current Red Wing and former Canadien Chris Chelios also participated.

The game began with scoring chances by each team but neither would get on the board until there was only 3:20 left in the first period.

After a giveaway in the Montreal zone, Pavel Datsyuk grabbed the puck and outwaited a Canadien defenseman, freezing him and putting a shot between his legs, slipping it between the pads of goalie Carey Price to give the Red Wings a 1-0 lead.

Christopher Higgins evened the game up at 4:15 of the second on a broken play. Saku Koivu’s shot from the left circle defected to Higgins off the skate of Aaron Downey. From the bottom of the circle, Higgins lifted a shot over goalie Dominik Hasek.

Datsyuk put the Wings out in front again with 8:58 remaining in the middle period, scoring on a wrister from the top of the right circle.

Niklas Kronwall extended the Detroit lead just 2:37 later, scoring on a fluttering shot from the blue line that may have been deflected on its way to the net.

Henrik Zetterberg wrapped up the game’s scoring on the power play with 6:10 remaining in the game, beating Price with a quick wrister from the high slot.

Price made 30 saves on 34 shots against and Hasek stopped 14 of 15.

Zetterberg’s goal was the lone power play goal for either team. The Red Wings had three chances with the extra attacker and Montreal had five.