Detroit Red Wings rally for victory over Montreal Canadiens

Left winger Justin Abdelkader and forward Darren Helm scored 1:11 apart in the third period to give the Detroit Red Wings a 3-2 come-from-behind win against the Montreal Canadiens Thursday night at Joe Louis Arena.It was Helm’s second goal of the game for Detroit, which has points in its past 12 games (8-0-4).

Petr Mrazek made 21 saves for the Red Wings, whose 12-game point streak matches their longest since 2010.

The Atlantic Division-leading Canadiens have lost four straight.

Fleischmann’s slap shot from the inside of the right circle beat Mrazek’s blocker. The Wings opened the scoring a few minutes later when a long outlet pass got to Luke Glendening, who fed it up to Helm. Mrazek was forced to make a big save on Tomas Plekanec shorthanded. Hudon swiped at the rebound but Sven Andrighetto got the goal and a 1-1 tie. The fact Montreal played last night showed as they started to lose a little of their speed. Montreal has dropped four of its last five contests, allowing three goals in each defeat – including Wednesday’s 3-1 setback in Boston that ended its eight-game winning streak against the Bruins.

But Montreal just couldn’t stave off the Red Wings on their fifth power play. Henrik Zetterberg later had the puck and made a centering pass that Abdelkader redirected into the net with the outside of his right skate.

The Canadiens hurt their chances to extending the game beyond regulation because P.K. Subban was called for delay of game, putting him to the penalty box with 1:44 left.

Andrighetto’s goal woke up the Habs, and so the pace of the game picked up for the remainder of the second period.

PANTHERS 4, CAPITALS 1: Jaromir Jagr moved into a tie for fourth on the all-time goals list with a first-period score that sparked Florida at Sunrise, Florida. “I’ve just got to keep taking my cracks at it, get shots on net and the puck will find its way in”. Jeff Blashill said after the game he’s not sure who will start tomorrow night in New Jersey, but it’s worth noting that neither goalie has started both games in a back-to-back so far this year.

Per our very own Prashanth, the Wings just concluded a stretch of games against Nashville, Washington and Montreal by taking 5 out of 6 points and posting a score-adjusted CF% of 53.8%.