Walman, Red Wings blow 3-goal lead, top Canadiens in OT

MONTREAL -- Jake Walman scored 54 seconds into overtime to give the Detroit Red Wings a 5-4 win against the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre on Saturday.

Walman sent a slap shot past goalie Jake Allen's glove after Montreal overcame a 3-0 deficit in the first period to tie the game with two goals in the third.

"It was just me and [Allen] pretty much so I knew where I was going to shoot the whole time," Walman said.

Walman, Daniel Sprong and Alex DeBrincat each had a goal and an assist for Detroit (13-7-3), which has won five of six. Ville Husso made 26 saves.

"It's hard to win in this league, period, and it's even tougher to win on the road," Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde said. "I loved the fact that we found the way to get two full points."

Nick Suzuki had a goal and an assist for Montreal (10-11-2), which has lost consecutive games and three of its past four. Allen made 28 saves in his sixth straight loss.

"We had guys who weren't ready -- many -- and that happens," Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis said. "And it's not easy in this league when you start like that, and you don't show up on time and shoot yourselves in the foot."

Gustav Lindstrom tied it 4-4 for Montreal with 3:59 remaining in the third when he scored against his former team on a shot from the right side on a pass from Josh Anderson.

Suzuki scored 4:12 into the third to get Montreal within 4-3 with a wrist shot from the right circle.

"The third period was good, but we can't start the game that slow because it's hard to come back from 3-0," Lindstrom said. "The guys did a good job battling back in the third but we have to start the game better."

Joe Veleno put Detroit up 1-0 at 7:21 of the first period taking Moritz Seider's pass from the point and scoring from the top of the right circle.

Christian Fischer made it 2-0 with a short-handed goal at 11:44. He tapped in the puck as it lay in the crease to the left of Allen, who lost sight of it after stopping Michael Rasmussen on a breakaway.

"I made a breakaway save, he was going blocker side and there was a big man coming down on me, and I don't really know what the heck happened after that, to be honest," Allen said. "I had no idea where the puck was."

Sprong scored at 19:20 to push it to 3-0 with a shot past Allen's glove on a 2-on-1.

Justin Barron cut it to 3-1 when he scored with seven seconds remaining in the first.

"Obviously that goal gave them momentum a little bit," Veleno said. "We've been in those situations before, they're in their home arena, they capitalize a lot of momentum off their goals and off the fans here, and I thought we did a good job of sticking with it and coming back in the second and scoring again and kind of stuck with it all the way through the end."

Joel Armia got Montreal within 3-2 at 4:07 of the second with the second short-handed goal of the game on a wrist shot over Husso's glove from the left face-off circle on a 2-on-1.

DeBrincat put the Red Wings up 4-2 at 4:54 with a power-play goal. He one-timed a shot between Allen's legs to finish off a passing play with Sprong and Seider for his 200th NHL goal.

"Two points are really hard to come by in this league and if you can get that extra one it's huge," Walman said. "It's going to be huge in the standings and at the end of the year, those are big points."

NOTES: DeBrincat (473 games) became the 12th United States-born player to score 200 goals in fewer than 500 games. Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs (338 games), Kyle Connor of the Winnipeg Jets (429) and Jake Guentzel of the Pittsburgh Penguins (463) are the only other active U.S.-born players to accomplish the feat. … It was Walman's second overtime goal, tying Seider for the most among active Detroit defensemen. The only Red Wings defensemen who have scored more overtime goals are Nicklas Lidstrom (four), Niklas Kronwall (four) and Danny DeKeyser (three). … Armia scored his eighth short-handed goal for Montreal, the most by any Canadiens player since he was acquired in 2018-19, three more than Suzuki and Artturi Lehkonen.