MONTREAL -- The Detroit Red Wings showed some mettle but the Montreal Canadiens showed why they're pushing for a playoff berth.
The Wings had a much better effort than they had in their 8-1 home loss against the Canadiens Feb. 26 but they couldn't generate enough offense to overcome the Canadiens, who won 3-1.
Trending: Wings show better effort yet can't beat Canadiens' Price, 3-1
Athanasiou nets his 24th goal of the season in loss
© Dan Mannes/Detroit Red Wings
By
Dana Wakiji @Dwakiji / DetroitRedWings.com
With the loss, Detroit was mathematically eliminated from the playoffs.
Andreas Athanasiou scored for the Wings. Max Domi (two, one empty-net) and Brett Kulak scored for the Canadiens.
Detroit netminder Jonathan Bernier, playing near his hometown of Laval, had 33 saves. Montreal goaltender Carey Price had 20 saves.
The Wings fell to 24-36-10. The Canadiens improved to 37-26-7.
Up next for the Wings is a Thursday night home game against the league-leading Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Canadiens travel to New York to face the Islanders on Thursday.
1. Andreas Athanasiou: Just a minute into the game, Athanasiou got one of his breakaways and was stopped by Price. But Athanasiou was not to be denied the entire game. With his team trailing 2-0, Athanasiou gave the Wings life by scoring 40 seconds into the third period through Price's legs. Niklas Kronwall and Trevor Daley assisted. It was Athanasiou's 24th goal of the season, moving him closer to Dylan Larkin, who leads with 27. Athanasiou now has six more goals than his previous career high of 18, set in the 2016-17 season, and nine more points than his previous career best of 33 that he had last year. Athanasiou finished with 19 shifts for 15:49, had three shots, one giveaway, one takeaway, was 2-of-6 in face-offs and was even.
Andreas Athanasiou has his 24th on the year. #LGRW @DTE_Energy | #DETvsMTL pic.twitter.com/5g6OLhfw5v
— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) March 13, 2019
Quotable: "Everyone knows it's hard right now. We can't buy any wins, but we just got to stick with it. You come in every day for practice, you work hard. At some point you have to get rewarded." -- Bernier
Quotable II: "I think the encouraging thing is our younger guys have taken really good steps in the right direction this year. We got younger guys in all positions playing big minutes. Cholo (Dennis Cholowski) earlier this year, (Filip) Hronek, and then of course with Bert (Tyler Bertuzzi), Mo (Anthony Mantha), Double-A (Athanasiou), Larks (Larkin), the list goes on. That's very encouraging, but in saying that we have to find a way to be better on a daily basis." -- Kronwall
Quotable III: "It's harder to feel it right now as I have at different points in the year but I certainly think our arc is headed in the right direction. I'm hoping we bottomed out a year ago. I think our arc is starting to head - we've relied on way more young guys this year. Obviously when (Henrik) Zetterberg (couldn't play), that kind of rips the Band-Aid off and now you gotta sink or swim. We've haven't swam enough, but we've closer to swimming on a regular basis. I thought there were lots of points in the year had we stayed healthier early, we could've given ourselves a better chance. I certainly think our arc is headed in the right direction. We got lots of work ahead of us. We need guys to continue to make strides. But when you see the strides that Larkin's made this year, the strides that Mantha has made, that Double-A (Athanasiou) and Bert (Bertuzzi) have made. Fil Hronek's done a good job. Dennis Cholowski had good parts of the year. You got a lot of young guys that are big contributors right now. We just gotta keep grinding." -- Wings coach Jeff Blashill
"We have to find a way to be better on a daily basis."
— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) March 13, 2019
Bernier, Abdelkader, Kronwall and Blashill give their thoughts after tonight's game against Montreal in our @CocaCola Post Game. #DETvsMTL pic.twitter.com/7Pt6Y8lWD1
- Jonathan Bernier: The Canadiens kept Bernier busy throughout the game. Former Wing Tomas Tatar got an early breakaway that Bernier stopped. With former Canadien Jacob de la Rose in the box midway through the first, Bernier stopped Shea Weber's booming shot from the right circle. Later, Bernier stopped Brendan Gallagher, Christian Folin and Nate Thompson among his 13 saves in the opening period. The Wings managed to kill off Filip Hronek's tripping call midway through the second but the Canadiens got three shots and gained some momentum, scoring their first goal shortly afterward. Andrew Shaw passed from the right boards to Domi at the net. Tatar got the second assist. Then at 17:32 of the second, Kulak's shot from the left point eluded Bernier for a 2-0 Montreal lead. Tatar got the only assist, giving him two goals and six assists in five career games against the team that drafted him. The final goal came with Bernier on the bench for the extra attacker.
Jonathan Bernier turns away Tomas Tatar in our @XFINITY play of the game. #DETvsMTL pic.twitter.com/NUIZCPLeZG
— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) March 13, 2019
Quotable: "I felt pretty good right off the bat. Got a breakaway, felt patient all night. I thought we played a really solid game as a team. Our power play maybe struggled a little bit in the second but other than that I thought we were very good. It's always fun. I think it's an easy game to get ready for. You obviously have a lot of people in the stands but it just seems like in this building I can't really get a win so it's going to have to wait for next year." -- Bernier
Quotable II: "He dug in hard. I thought he was excellent. I thought he really battled hard around the net. It's a hard team to play against because they throw so many pucks around there and they dig hard. I thought he did a real good job of digging in. He's just gotta stay mentally tough and keep grinding." -- Blashill
Quotable III: "I think it was a better effort. I thought we skated better. The execution was better, but obviously the same result. It's frustrating. We got to make sure we're going out and we're giving an effort and we're skating like we did tonight. We had chances. I think the power play executed a little better, especially coming up the ice. Carey Price made some good saves. I thought Bernie made some good saves. But like I said, we're on the losing end again." -- Justin Abdelkader
3. Carey Price: By the end of the game, the Canadiens faithful at Bell Centre were chanting, "Carey! Carey! Carey!" It was for good reason as the Montreal netminder was his usual spectacular self. With the victory, Price moved into sole possession of first place in franchise history with 315 victories, passing Jacques Plante. One sequence in particular summed up Price's night. At 7:57 of the third period, with the Canadiens holding a 2-1 lead, Bertuzzi poked the puck out for a breakaway. Price stopped Bertuzzi with his left pad and then saved rebounds by Frans Nielsen and Thomas Vanek. Although his 20 saves don't sound like a lot, the Wings had several great chances. In 20 career games against the Wings, Price is 15-4-1. Price is 8-0-1 in his last eight games at Bell Centre.
Just wow, @CP0031. pic.twitter.com/6WxA9H14Kn
— NHL GIFs (@NHLGIFs) March 13, 2019
Quotable: "That's pretty impressive, especially playing here in Montreal, it's never easy. He went through some downs but he always battled, always seemed to come out stronger and got to give Carey a lot of credit. Obviously, it's a huge, huge accomplishment. He's been in the league for a long time. Just to play for one team, too, that's pretty special, especially to play in this market. He just seems to find really good consistency every year and he has some downs, he always seems to bounce right back up." -- Bernier
Quotable II: "With him, he makes everything look so easy, so calm, always square to the puck, doesn't give you a whole lot of net to shoot at. He just does it every game, year in and year out. Extremely impressive. He just keeps being just as good as he's always been, It seems like no aging signs there whatsoever." -- Kronwall
Quotable III: "I thought Carey Price was really good, especially when he had to be. I thought he made some big saves at big moments and secured the win. In a lot of ways he's a superstar." -- Blashill