Ville Husso made 24 saves and David Perron had two goals and an assist as the visiting Detroit Red Wings recorded a 5-0 shutout of the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday.
The victory kept Detroit’s slim playoff chances alive, though the Wings (35-33-9, 79 points) may need to win all of their remaining five games to pass the four teams ahead of them for the final Western Conference wild-card slot. The Red Wings are 4-1-0 in their last five games.
Olli Maatta and Jordan Oesterle each had two assists. Lucas Raymond collected the game’s opening marker at 4:55 of the first period, while Matt Luff and Joe Veleno scored the Red Wings’ other goals.
Goaltender Cayden Primeau stopped 16 of 21 shots as Montreal (30-42-6, 66 points) was shut out for the second time in as many games. The Habs also went scoreless in Saturday’s 3-0 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes.
The Canadiens are 0-4-0 in their last four games, with the last three losses coming on home ice.
Perron scored on a breakaway midway through the first period, after taking a long stretch pass from Oesterle down the middle of the ice. Perron’s next tally came on a tip-in goal 7:26 into the third period.
Perron has 12 points (six goals, six assists) in his last nine games.
Husso missed the Red Wings’ previous seven games due to a lower-body injury but looked sharp in his return to action. It was Husso’s fourth shutout of the season and his second against Montreal, as Husso also delivered a 29-save gem in Detroit’s 3-0 win over the Canadiens in the first game of the season.
After firing a season-low 14 shots against the Hurricanes, Montreal generated at least a little more pressure with 24 shots on Tuesday. Jonathan Drouin had perhaps the Habs’ best scoring chance at 14:07 of the second period, but Husso made a tremendous stop on Drouin’s point-blank shot.
Detroit finished its regular-season series with Montreal with a 3-0-1 record.
–Field Level Media
