Allen, Canadiens shut out Detroit

In Montreal, the Canadiens’ Jake Allen made 22 saves in a 3-0 win over the visiting Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday night.

“I thought it was our best game of the year,” Allen said. “We were just solid all over the ice and the game looked easy for us, to be honest. And that’s the way it should be when you’re all playing as one. So I was really impressed with how they played.”

Much of the suspense was taken out of the game in the first period when Nick Suzuki  and Josh Anderson scored for 2-0 Habs lead.

“It’s definitely a step in the right direction,” Suzuki said. “We needed to come out in this homestand and do a good job and get a win to start it off. So we’re happy just to get the win.”

The Canadiens improved to 3-8-0.

“[This season’s] been frustrating, obviously, but you know the only way to get through it is to keep working, keep grinding away. Once you do that, you’re going to pull a lot of guys into the fight with you,” Anderson said. “I thought tonight everybody was on board, but we got to get back at it tomorrow in practice, keep working hard and repeat that next game.”

The Red wings dropped to 4-4-2.

“I’m assuming if I’m their coach I would be happy with the way they played,” Red Wings head coach Jeff Blashill said. “But I’m not their coach. I’m our coach and I wasn’t happy with the way we played. All I know is what we were doing wasn’t good enough. I know that for sure.”

Brendan Gallagher scored into an empty net for the 3-0 final.

“[This season’s] been frustrating, obviously, but you know the only way to get through it is to keep working, keep grinding away. Once you do that, you’re going to pull a lot of guys into the fight with you,” Anderson said. “I thought tonight everybody was on board, but we got to get back at it tomorrow in practice, keep working hard and repeat that next game.”

Alex Nedeljkovic made 38 saves in the Detroit loss.

“Whether those guys are in or not, we’ve got to try to find ways to score goals and try to be in games,” Detroit’s Danny DeKeyser said. “I thought ‘Ned’ gave us a chance. He made some big time saves, but we’ve got to put the puck in the net a little bit more.”