Detroit Red Wings bail themselves out in overtime against Canadiens

MONTREAL, CANADA - DECEMBER 02: Jake Walman #96 of the Detroit Red Wings celebrates his overtime goal against the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre on December 2, 2023 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The Detroit Red Wings defeated the Montreal Canadiens 5-4 in overtime. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)
MONTREAL, CANADA - DECEMBER 02: Jake Walman #96 of the Detroit Red Wings celebrates his overtime goal against the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre on December 2, 2023 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The Detroit Red Wings defeated the Montreal Canadiens 5-4 in overtime. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images) /
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The Detroit Red Wings have now won five of their last six games and have continued to get the job done. They secured two points after an overtime victory on Saturday, entering the Montreal Canadiens barn and getting the job done.

The only thing that sucked about the win was the Detroit Red Wings was that the game even required overtime. The Red Wings got out to an early lead and maintained before letting the Canadiens march right back into the game.

It was only fitting that Gustav Lindstrom was the player who would score the game-tying goal to force overtime. The former Red Wings defenseman is patrolling the blue line for the Canadiens nowadays, and he got a little bit of payback, helping the Canadiens stay alive in Saturday’s game.

That was until Jake Walman’s overtime goal and Griddy celebration once again. This marks NHL Griddy celebration no.2 for Walman, who did the same thing after an overtime victory against the Penguins during the 2022-23 season.

Detroit Red Wings let the Habs back into the game but grabbed the OT win.

The Red Wings came out strong, with a couple of early goals, led by Joe Veleno, Christian Fischer, and Daniel Sprong. The Red Wings were able to tack on another later, with a good goal from Alex DeBrincat on the power-play, to help Detroit do a job.

DeBrincat’s power-play goal was the 200th goal of his career. He was set down low, catching a pass from the point where he fired off a one-timer to beat Jake Allen and get career goal no. 200. Congratulations on that, Alex! Here’s the goal:

Even though the Red Wings came out on top, there were some things that should be concerning to fans. The team is adding points and doing what they need to do to march toward a playoff berth. But there’s still plenty of work to be done, and Detroit has to tighten things up.

The Red Wings did the thing where they sit back and let a bad team come marching back. They went up 3-0 and got complacent. It was 3-1 after 20 minutes after a late goal by the Habs. But Detroit let them come marching back, tilting the ice their way.

Detroit dominated early on. They got the job done offensively and executed early, but then the complacency became a problem. Eventually, the Habs came back, and against a team like Boston or Tampa Bay, that will be a real problem. Things would have gotten ugly.

Must Read. Expect Patrick Kane to get involved in Red Wings offense quickly. light

Coming away with two points was great, but the game was way more stressful than it needed to be. Hopefully, Detroit can learn from this, even in a win, hoping to tighten up for Tuesday’s matchup with the Sabres.