RECAP: Red Wings score first, but drop 5-1 decision at Canadiens

MONTREAL – The Detroit Red Wings were swept in their Atlantic Division and Original Six back-to-back home-and-home set, taking a 5-1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre on Saturday night.

Netminder Alex Lyon finished with 19 saves for the Red Wings (13-16-4; 30 points), who were coming off a 4-3 setback to the Canadiens (14-16-3; 31 points) at Little Caesars Arena on Friday. Goalie Sam Montembeault made his second start in as many nights for Montreal, turning aside 20 shots.

"Obviously, it's not fun losing back-to-back games against the same team," said Joe Veleno, who scored Detroit's lone goal and his fourth of the season. "It definitely hurts us standings-wise. Bigger picture, obviously it's a long year. But we got to realize how crucial these division points are and how you can really get a leap on teams by winning in your division. It's a four-point weekend that we just let slip away."

Kicking things off in his hometown, Veleno was stationed at the doorstep when he got his stick on Jonatan Berggren’s pass for a redirection goal to put Detroit ahead 1-0 at 6:41 of the first period. A secondary assist for Moritz Seider tied him with Willie Huber for the third-most points by a Red Wings defenseman before age 24, while Veleno extended his point streak to four straight games.

Also stretching his goal-scoring streak to three consecutive contests, Veleno has tied the longest such run of his NHL career. The 24-year-old forward previously logged a three-game goal streak from Oct. 21-24, 2023.

.Montreal found the back of the net three times before the end of the first period, beginning with Juraj Slafkovsky’s tip-in goal that tied it 1-1 at 14:14. Then 72 seconds later, Jake Evans made it 2-1 when he snapped a shot on the blocker side past Lyon.

Extending the hosts' lead to 3-1 with 39 seconds left in the opening frame, Patrik Laine sent a pass net-bound that took a fortunate bounce off Ben Chiarot's stick and into the cage during a man-advantage opportunity.

"We had a really good start," Red Wings head coach Derek Lalonde said. "Not only the goal, but we had some pace, zone time and then we let it get away from us a little bit there in the first [period]. But I still thought we were going to be okay if we could build something in the second. They're a team that gives you looks and chances, and we just spent too much time in our zone. We couldn't get stops."

At 2:40 of the second period, Montreal added another when David Savard grabbed a loose puck and slid it to Emil Heineman in the slot for the finish that made it 4-1. Brendan Gallagher scored at 13:03, one-timing Josh Anderson’s feed from deep to push the score to 5-1.

"We put ourselves in a hard spot," Veleno said. "It's definitely hard to come back after being down by three, four or five goals."

Neither club lit the lamp in the third period, which Detroit had to play without Chiarot.

"No update on Ben," Lalonde said. "I was told upper body and unable to return."

The Red Wings will play one more game before the NHL's holiday break, which runs from Dec. 24-26, and Patrick Kane said the group is focused on one thing before getting three days away from the rink to rest and reset.

"We got to come back and have a lot of urgency in that game," Kane said. "Find a way to get two points."

NEXT UP: Detroit will welcome the St. Louis Blues to Little Caesars Arena on Monday night

POSTGAME QUOTES

Veleno on how the Canadiens earned two points on Saturday

"There's going to be times in the season where we're going to go through games like this. Obviously, we don't want to be in this position, but it's very simple. They out-competed us, won more battles than we did, got to the net, created energy and built momentum off of it."

Seider on Saturday's game

"We just got out-competed and out-worked. That's a very frustrating feeling. Coming in here, obviously we had a gameplan but couldn't really emphasize on that. Now, we just have to turn the page and regroup tomorrow. Find a way to win hockey games, especially find a good reason to get to the locker room the next couple of days with a little bit different energy."

Seider on what he thinks is missing right now

"I think the intensity over 60 minutes. It's hard to win when you have little dips and lags in your game. Obviously, you're not going to be perfect every time but we always have to aim for perfection. We're just not good enough right now."