Jeff Blashill: Red Wings weren't 'in the same hemisphere' as Habs

For the second time in just over a week, the Detroit Red Wings were felled by the struggling Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre. While Tuesday night's matchup wasn't as dominating on the scoreboard as last Saturday night, it may as well have been.

The Habs controlled play for the game's first two minutes, culminating in forward Nick Suzuki's first goal of the season and putting Detroit in an early hole. A second goal by forward Josh Anderson would increase Montreal's lead midway through the game's opening frame.

Despite several key saves from goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic, Detroit wasn't able to muster anything for him on the other end of the ice and were shut out for the second time in the 2021-22 season.

And needless to say, head coach Jeff Blashill wasn't thrilled with how his team performed.

“They were better than us from the first shift all the way to the last shift,” a frustrated Blashill said afterwards. “They played like it was a playoff game; we played like it was an exhibition game.

“That isn’t even close to what we need to do to be successful. That wasn’t even in the hemisphere of what we need to do.”

Brendan Gallagher would add an empty net tally late in the 3rd period to seal it; final shots were 41-22 in favor of the Canadiens. With their second straight regulation loss, the Red Wings slipped to 4-4-2 on the season, while Montreal improved to 3-8-0. Tonight also marked the second time this season they've been blanked, with the first coming on October 21 at home against Calgary.

For defenseman Danny DeKeyser, Montreal's fast start coupled with their momentum was too much to overcome. 

“It’s a tough building to play in,” DeKeyser said. “It’s a momentum building. They came out from the first shift tilting the ice. We weren’t able to push back at all.”

The Red Wings will get back at it on Thursday night against the Boston Bruins, where they're expected to get both Tyler Bertuzzi and Dylan Larkin back in the lineup. The former was unable to play in Canada tonight due to his anti-COVID vaccination stance, while Larkin was out dealing with a personal matter.