Pregame: Red Wings @ Canadiens – 10/21

The Red Wings continue their string of games against Original Six opponents tonight, visiting the Montreal Canadiens.

Detroit is coming off a shootout loss to the Boston Bruins and then a sweep of the Toronto Maple Leafs in a home-and-home series. At 3-1-1 on the season, they sit three points back of the Canadiens (5-1-0) in the Atlantic.

The big news for the Wings is that forward Pavel Datsyuk will return from a shoulder injury and make his first appearance of the season. He replaces Stephen Weiss in the lineup, who had replaced the injured Johan Franzen for one game. Franzen is now on injured reserve, making room for Datsyuk to come off IR.

Datsyuk will skate on a line with Henrik Zetterberg and Justin Abdelkader, with Gustav Nyquist bounced down to the second line with Riley Sheahan and Tomas Tatar. Tomas Jurco drops to the third line with Darren Helm and Andrej Nestrasil.

Jimmy Howard will get the start in goal after a short stint on IR with a minor groin injury.

Carey Price will get the start for Montreal.

Stupid stat of the day: Detroit has never scored a goal against the Canadiens on October 21. Their only previous meeting was a 2-0 Montreal win in 1950, which was also Detroit’s first game on the date.

Game time is 7:30 on FSD.