The Detroit Red Wings are coming off their worst game of the season, dropping Tuesday’s game to the Rangers 5-3, where they just came out flat for the first 40 minutes before turning it on in the final 20 and outscoring the Rangers 3-0 in that last frame. The Montreal Canadiens are coming in off a loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-3 and have dropped four straight games after a hot start.
Detroit Red Wings (7-5-1, 15 Points) vs. Montreal Canadiens (5-5-2, 12 Points)
When: Thursday, November 9
Time: 7:00 p.m. ET
Where: Little Caesar’s Arena (Detroit, MI)
TV: Bally Sports Detroit
Scoring Leaders
Expected Line Combinations
Detroit Red Wings
Alex DeBrincat – Dylan Larkin – Lucas Raymond
Andrew Copp – J.T. Compher – Austin Czarnik
David Perron – Joe Veleno – Daniel Sprong
Klim Kostin – Michael Rasmussen – Christian Fischer
Jake Walman – Moritz Seider
Ben Chiarot – Jeff Petry
Justin Holl – Olli Maatta
Montreal Canadiens
Cole Caufield – Nick Suzuki – Juraj Slafovsky
Tanner Pearson – Sean Monahan – Brendan Gallagher
Alex Newhook – Christian Dvorak – Josh Anderson
Michael Pezzetta – Jake Evans – Joel Armia
Jordan Harris – Michael Matheson
Kaiden Guhle – Justin Barron
Arber Xhekaj – Jonathan Kovacevic
By The Numbers:
Red Wings Player to Watch: Andrew Copp
Copp is in his second season with Detroit, and this season, he has played in all 13 games and has recorded seven points coming on five goals and two assists; he is currently on a two-game goal streak and has points in three of the last four games.
Copp’s Line Assignments
Copp will play on the wing alongside J.T. Compher and Austin Czarnik on the second line. He is also on the second power-play unit, playing with Compher, Daniel Sprong, David Perron, and Jeff Petry.
Copp’s career vs. Canadiens
In his career against Montreal, he has played in 25 games and has recorded 15 points, coming on six goals and nine assists. Copp had two assists last season in four games against the Canadiens.
Between the Pipes:
Detroit: James Reimer (2-2-0, 1.52 GAA)
Reimer’s last start came a week ago against the Panthers, in which the Red Wings lost 2-0; he stopped 25 of the 26 shots he faced. In his career against the Canadiens, he has made 17 appearances, going 7-7-2, and allowed 45 goals on 508 shots. He did not face Montreal last season.
Montreal: Cayden Primeau (0-1-0, 4.14 GAA)
Primeau has only started one game this season, coming back on October 24th against the Devils, and he took the loss, allowing four goals on 33 shots. In his career against the Red Wings, Primeau has made one start, going 0-1-0, stopping 16 of the 21 shots he has faced; that start also came last season.
Wrap Up
The Red Wings are coming off facing four powerhouse teams in the Eastern Conference and went 2-2-0. The next four games will define their season as they face Montreal starting tonight and then Columbus on Saturday before heading to Sweden to take on the Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs. They need to finish those four games with at least five points, and then things could be heading in the right direction.
In their last ten games against Montreal, the Red Wings are 7-2-1 and outscored them 28-24. The Red Wings last season went 3-0-1 against the Canadiens, outscored them 14-6, and had two shutouts.
