Detroit nip Canadiens, 5-4, in OT Husso makes 26 saves in win

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In Montreal, the visiting Detroit Red Wings blew leads of 3-0 and 4-2 before dispatching the Canadiens, 5-4, in extra time.

Jake Walman scored with 54 seconds gone in the extra session to rescue the Wings from embarrassment.

“It was just me and [Allen] pretty much so I knew where I was going to shoot the whole time,” Walman said.

Ville Husso made 26 saves in the win.

“It’s hard to win in this league, period, and it’s even tougher to win on the road,” Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde said. “I loved the fact that we found the way to get two full points.”

Detroit improved to 13-7-3.

Detroit took a 3-0 lead in the first period, and then let the Habs creep back to a 3-2 deficit.

Montreal’s Justin Barron trimmed the deficit to 3-1 with seven seconds left in the opening stanza.

“Obviously that goal gave them momentum a little bit,” Detroit’s Joe Veleno said. “We’ve been in those situations before, they’re in their home arena, they capitalize a lot of momentum off their goals and off the fans here, and I thought we did a good job of sticking with it and coming back in the second and scoring again and kind of stuck with it all the way through the end.”

The Habs’ Joel Armia scored at 4:07 of the middle frame to get them within one at 3-2.

Veleno opened the scoring in the game when he hit at 7:21 for a 1-0 lead to the Red Wings in the first period.

Christian Fischer pushed the Detroit lead to 2-0 at 11:44 with a shorthanded strike.

“Two points are really hard to come by in this league and if you can get that extra one it’s huge,” Walman said. “It’s going to be huge in the standings and at the end of the year, those are big points.”

Daniel Sprong hit at 19:20 for a 3-0 lead to the Red Wings.

Alex DeBrincat pushed the Red Wings back in front by two, 4-2,  at 4:54 off a power play strike.

Montreal dropped to 10-11-2.

Nick Suzuki scored at 4:12 of the third period to get the Canadiens within one at 4-3.

Gustav Lindstrom forced the extra session with four minutes left on the game clock for a 4-4 tie.

“The third period was good, but we can’t start the game that slow because it’s hard to come back from 3-0,” Lindstrom said. “The guys did a good job battling back in the third but we have to start the game better.”

Jake Allen made 28 saves in the loss..

“We had guys who weren’t ready — many — and that happens,” Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis said. “And it’s not easy in this league when you start like that, and you don’t show up on time and shoot yourselves in the foot.”