Preview: Red Wings look to bounce back in second matchup with Canadiens

MONTREAL, QC --Tuesday's game against the Montreal Canadiens will be the first time this season that the Detroit Red Wings face an opponent for the second time, and the Red Wings are hoping for a much better result against the Canadiens this time around.
When the Red Wings first traveled to the Bell Centre to face the Canadiens on October 23, Detroit committed four penalties and surrendered six unanswered goals in a 6-1 loss, so despite Montreal's 2-8-0 start, Wings coach Jeff Blashill said his club won't take the Canadiens lightly.

"The last time we played them, they kicked our butts in here. That's what sticks in our mind," Blashill said on Monday. "Our guys aren't watching their record. What (our guys) have fresh in their mind is the fact that we got our butts kicked last time. We better come ready to play with a great sense of urgency."
Blashill said the toughest thing about playing in the Bell Centre is the momentum the Canadiens glean from their fans, so he said the Red Wings have to limit momentum by not giving up multiple chances in the defensive zone.
"In this building, they can be 8-0 or 0-8, it doesn't matter. In this building, momentum matters," Blashill said. "So you better do a good job of not giving up easy chances. Because every time you give a chance, momentum builds in this building.
"You better make sure that when you do give up a chance, it's not a second and a third and a fourth right away. You have to find ways to quell that momentum. The best way to do that is to play in their end as much as possible and make them defend."

The Red Wings come into Tuesday's game at 4-3-2 this season, and their 10 points put them in fourth place in the Atlantic Division.
Detroit is coming off a 5-4 road loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs last Saturday, but the Red Wings got a boost from 21-year-old center Joe Veleno, who was called up from the Grand Rapids Griffins before the contest and earned his first career multi-point game with a goal and an assist in his season debut.
Blashill said Veleno started slowly after driving from Grand Rapids to Detroit to Toronto on Saturday, but he was impressed with Veleno's play as the game progressed.
"I thought by the end of the night, he looked really good," Blashill said about the 2018 30th overall draft pick. "He's got really good physical attributes. He's strong, he can skate, he's got good one-on-one ability. By the end of the night, he made a real big impact in the third period."
Another player who made a significant impact in Saturday's game was Filip Zadina, who also earned his first multi-point game of the season with a power-play goal and an assist.
Zadina comes into Tuesday's game with five points on two goals and three assists this season, and Blashill said he hopes Saturday's performance can boost the winger's confidence and lead to a hot streak.
"Filip's had some games where he's played really good and maybe hasn't gotten rewarded much," Blashill said. "He just has to make sure he doesn't let that get him down and he stays with it. He obviously had a nice power-play goal the other night. I think the power play is an area where he can really, really be an asset. He was scoring lots (Monday) in practice, and I'm hoping he can get real hot."
Zadina agreed about his performance on Saturday boosting his confidence as the season progresses.
"It was great to score the goal. It gave me a bit more confidence," Zadina said. "It felt great. Would be better if we would've won the game, but it gave me more confidence moving forward."

The Canandiens are coming off back-to-back road losses to the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday and the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday to wrap up a four-game road trip. Montreal's last home game and last win came against the Red Wings in that October 23 matchup, and Zadina said he expects the defending Eastern Conference champions to be tough to play against once again.
"They have a good team, they just didn't start, probably, as they expected," Zadina said. "Moving forward, I think they'll be getting better and stronger, so it's going to be harder. They'll play like they played last year. They'll be a good team.
"For us, we just got to compete more than they are competing. Just shoot the puck more and not make major mistakes in the D-zone and not give away the puck. We have to defend the whole game."
Other than their six-goal outburst against the Red Wings, the Canadiens have been stifled offensively this season, combining for just nine goals in their other nine games.
Eighth-year winger Jonathan Drouin leads Montreal with seven points this season, and 31-year-old winger Mike Hoffman leads the club with four goals in his first seven games with the Canadiens.
Nine-year veteran goaltender Jake Allen has seen a majority of the work between the pipes for Montreal this season, with a 2-6-0 record in eight starts, earning a 2.91 goals-against average and a .907 save percentage. Allen earned his first win of the season against the Red Wings in the previous matchup, giving up one goal on 27 shots.
Backup goalie Sam Montembeault has also started two games in his first season with the Canadiens, going 0-2-0 with a 4.06 goals-against average.
Blashill said Tuesday morning that captain Dylan Larkin will miss the game due to personal reasons.
Puck drop for Tuesday's game is set for 7 p.m., and fans can catch all the action on Bally Sports Detroit Plus or on the Red Wings Radio Network.