Niemi helps Canadiens hand Red Wings another loss

DETROIT --Antti Niemi made 30 saves for the Montreal Canadiens in a 3-2 win against the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena on Tuesday.

"This felt pretty good," Niemi said. "I really saw the puck well in the first 20 minutes, and then I just kept doing what I've been doing - staying square to the puck and being patient."
WATCH: [All Canadiens vs. Red Wings highlights]
Brendan Gallagher, Joel Armia and Jeff Petry scored, and Tomas Tatar had two assists for the Canadiens (23-16-5), who are 6-3-0 in their past nine games.
"They battled hard, and there were parts of the game where they were better than us, but we stayed back and stayed compact," Tatar said. "We're really happy about these two points."
Andreas Athanasiou scored twice and Jimmy Howard made 22 saves for the Red Wings (16-22-7), who lost for the eighth time in nine games (1-6-2).
"We've dug ourselves into this hole, so now we've got to dig ourselves out of it," Howard said. "We've had a chance to win a lot of these games, but we need to start actually winning them."
The Red Wings nearly took the lead at 14:58 of the first period, but defenseman Dennis Cholowski hit the crossbar on the power play.
Gallagher scored 30 seconds into the second period to give Montreal a 1-0 lead, knocking in the rebound off Tatar's initial shot at the top of the crease. Armia extended the lead to 2-0 at 1:36 from the high slot.

Athanasiou cut it to 2-1 at 6:39, taking advantage of a Montreal turnover and scoring short side. He has six goals in his past seven games.
"I was trying to look to the side like I was going to pass, hoping Niemi would read it that way and give me a spot to shoot on the short side," Athanasiou said. "I don't know if it worked, but I was able to get it in there."
Petry scored 19 seconds into the third period to make it 3-1, taking a pass from Tatar and scoring from the high slot. It was his first NHL goal in his hometown (born in Ann Arbor, Michigan).
"It was exciting to get one here in front of my friends and family," Petry said. "I made a big mistake last night, but I had a quick turnaround where I could park that game and focus on this one."
Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill was frustrated by the lapses on defense that led to Montreal's goals early in the second and third period.
"We gave them three easy goals," Blashill said. "We have to work like dogs to score goals, and we gave three away. We can't win that way."

Athanasiou scored on a one-timer on the power play to pull the Red Wings within 3-2 at 4:58. It was Detroit's second power-play goal in its past 21 opportunities.
Canadiens defenseman Shea Weber started the game wearing a cage to protect the facial injuries he sustained on Monday before discarding it.
"It has been a long time since I've worn a cage and I just wasn't comfortable with it," Weber said. "It feels pretty good. The swelling has gone down a lot already, and hopefully it will keep going down."

They said it

"It will always be special to me to come back here and play against my old teammates. It is fun to see them and it gives me extra incentive to win games when we play here." -- Canadiens forward Tomas Tatar, who played his first 407 NHL games with the Red Wings before being traded to Vegas Golden Knights on Feb. 26, 2018
"We are in almost every game, but we have to start winning some of them. Jimmy [Howard] is giving us a chance and we need to take advantage. Montreal is a good team, but we're at home playing a team on the second half of a back-to-back (Canadiens lost 1-0 to Minnesota Wild on Monday). We need to find a way to win." -- Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill

Need to know

Petry's father, Dan, was a pitcher for the Detroit Tigers when they won the World Series in 1984. … Red Wings forward Dylan Larkin was held without a point for the second time in 18 games. … Athanasiou is one goal shy of tying his career high (18) he set in 2016-17.

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What's next

Canadiens: At the St. Louis Blues on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; FS-MW, TSN2, RDS, NHL.TV)
Red Wings:At the Winnipeg Jets on Friday (8 p.m. ET; TVAS, TSN3, FS-D, NHL.TV)