By Stefan Kubus –
DETROIT – Detroit head coach Mike Babcock always says that catch-up hockey is losing hockey, and that held to be true Thursday night at Joe Louis Arena.
Montreal’s Tomas Plekanec scored a pair of early goals to put Detroit behind, Thomas Vanek recorded the game-winner and two helpers, goaltender Carey Price turned away 26 shots, and the Canadiens defeated the Red Wings in regulation, 5-4.
Riley Sheahan and Johan Franzen each had a goal for Detroit, and Tomas Tatar netted a pair of his own.
Defenseman Niklas Kronwall said the team “absolutely” lacked the urgency the team needed to play with given the intense playoff race.
“All in all, we have to be better than this.”
Babcock said he was unsure as to why the team got off to such a slow start after holding an optional skate Wednesday in which few players skated, but added that Friday’s skate will certainly not be optional.
“You’ve got to get prepared, you’ve got to play right and you’ve got to do it for 60 minutes and be patient.
“When you start chasing the game like we were tonight, anything can happen. It’s entertaining and all that for the fans, but it’s not a recipe for success, whatsoever.”
The Red Wings’ head coach said he didn’t get enough from the veterans, citing the excellence shown by the youngsters.
“Our kids were outstanding. We didn’t have enough veteran guys going here tonight and we have to be better than that.”
To open the scoring, Plekanec took a feed from P.K. Subban and fired a shot from the high slot high over Jimmy Howard’s left shoulder for the early 1-0 Canadiens lead at 5:14.
Then late in the period, Plekanec and Subban hooked up again. Entering the Detroit zone, Plekanec dropped the puck to Subban and he returned the pass allowing Plekanec to wire his second of the game and 20th of the season past Howard for the 2-0 lead.
“We were a little hesitant off the start,” Sheahan said. “We let them get to us.”
Just 1:28 into the middle frame, Sheahan stepped in down the left side and wristed one past Price to get Detroit back in the game and cut the two-goal lead in half.
They didn’t convert on it, but a 5-on-3 power play later in the period sparked some momentum for Montreal shortly after, as David Desharnais scored one from Vanek at 11:03 of the second period after a quick pass out in front from below the goal line.
A quick wrister from Tatar just 1:24 into the third period beat Price on the short side to pull Detroit within one again. Tatar’s second of the game, his 18th of the season, knotted the game up at three aside just three minutes later and gave him his third-straight multi-point game.
“The first two periods, we didn’t play really well and the third one, we jumped in and tried to catch up,” Tatar said.
Just one minute later, University of Michigan Wolverines product Max Pacioretty put Montreal back on top with his 33rd of the year to make it a 4-3 game. Vanek extended the lead, tipping home an Andrei Markov shot from the point, but just seconds later, Franzen wired a laser in the top corner to make it 5-4.
But Detroit could not complete the come back, as Montreal held on to take an important two points away from Detroit.
With the loss, Detroit still sits in the second wild card spot, tied with Columbus, Washington and Toronto. With nine games remaining for the Red Wings, Columbus has a game in-hand, Washington also has nine games left and Toronto only has eight to play. Their next game is even bigger, a road game in Toronto against the Maple Leafs.
“We’ve got to get ready here tomorrow,” Babcock said. “We’re going to Toronto, we’ve got to get (our game) looked after there.”