Ville Husso made 29 saves in his Detroit Red Wings debut, a 3-0 season-opening victory over the visiting Montreal Canadiens on Friday.
Making his NHL debut, 2019 draft pick Elmer Soderblom scored the eventual game-winning goal in the third period for Detroit, which had Derek Lalonde behind the bench in his first game as an NHL head coach.
Michael Rasmussen had a hand in all three goals, scoring the second one and assisting on the other two.
Jake Allen made 37 saves for Montreal, which began its season with a 4-3 win over the Maple Leafs on Wednesday.
After two scoreless periods, Detroit broke through with 17:27 remaining.
Following some pressure in the Montreal zone, Allen made a save on a wraparound attempt by Rasmussen, but the rebound went in front of the goal to Soderblom, who beat the goalie for a 1-0 lead.
With 2:26 left, Montreal decided to pull Allen for an extra attacker.
But the Canadiens couldn’t generate any serious chances before Detroit put the game away with 1:01 remaining on an empty-net goal by Rasmussen. The goal developed when the Red Wings got the puck out of their zone, and Andrew Copp fed a pass from center ice into the Montreal zone to Rasmussen.
The Red Wings made it 3-0 with 47.9 seconds left when Olli Maatta fired a shot from center ice into an empty net.
That was more than enough for Husso, who was acquired from St. Louis in July.
Detroit carried the play in the first period, outshooting Montreal by a 25-10 margin.
The 25 shots were more than Detroit had in a period during any game last season.
The second period was more even, with Detroit outshooting Montreal 9-8.
Each team was 0-for-3 on the power play, while Detroit outhit Montreal, 38-24.
–Field Level Media
