(Montreal) Joe Veleno, Christian Fischer and Daniel Sprong moved the strings and the Detroit Red Wings led 3-1 against the Montreal Canadiens after 20 minutes of play, Saturday evening at the Bell Centre.
Veleno opened the scoring 7:21 into the game. A shot from Lucas Raymond hit defenseman Justin Barron in front of the net and the puck landed on the blade of Veleno’s stick, who was able to shoot into a gaping cage.
The native of Montreal’s West Island scored on his team’s fifth shot on goal. For his part, the Canadian still had no shots on the clock.
Fischer widened the gap to 11:44, outnumbered. Barron lost control of the puck at the Red Wings blue line and Michael Rasmussen was able to escape. Jake Allen made the save, but lost sight of the puck, which came to rest to his left. Fischer jumped at the opportunity by pushing the disc into the opening.
Sprong pushed the Red Wings’ lead to 3-0 with 39.4 seconds left, beating Allen on the shield side on a two-on-one attack.
Barron restarted the Canadian with 6.1 seconds left on the clock. A shot from Nick Suzuki hit defenseman Jeff Petry and the puck went to Barron, who hit the mark.
Allen made eight saves in the first period. At the other end of the ice, Ville Husso stopped six shots.
Forward Mitchell Stephens played his first game with the Canadian and his 73rd career in the NHL. He was replacing Alex Newhook, who will be sidelined for 10 to 12 weeks with a sprained left ankle suffered Thursday in the Habs’ 5-1 loss to the Florida Panthers.
The Canadian will play their next game on Monday, when they host the Seattle Kraken at the Bell Centre.
