Canadiens snap 3-game skid with shootout victory over Red Wings
Montreal's Hoffman scores twice, Suzuki buries shootout winner
Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki scored in the shootout and the visiting Montreal Canadiens beat the Detroit Red Wings 3-2 on Tuesday night.
During regulation time, Larkin also failed to convert on a first-period penalty shot.
The win was Montreal's first at Detroit since Feb. 26, 2019, ending a four-game skid.
"I thought we got tested character wise and I'm proud of the way the group fought through it," Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis said.
WATCH l Suzuki shows off moves in hootout to help Canadiens down Red Wings:
Montreal's Mike Hoffman scored two first-period goals on similar plays. He gave the Canadiens a 1-0 lead at 5:41, driving the rebound of Brendan Gallagher's shot past Detroit netminder Ville Husso.
Hoffman's second goal came with 15.2 seconds left in the opening period. Again, Husso got his left pad on a shot by Gallagher, only to have a wide-open Hoffman fire the rebound into the Detroit net.
"That's just simple hockey right there," Hoffman said. "You try to be in the right place at the right time and sometimes you are rewarded."
Austin Czarnik got Detroit's first goal. He converted Dominik Kubalik's pass from the slot at 16:29 of the first period. It was Czarnik's first NHL goal since Jan. 21, 2022, when he was playing for the New York Islanders.
Red Wings forward Lucas Raymond made it 2-all at the 10:36 mark of the third period. Taking a feed from Pius Suter, Raymond whipped a low shot past Montreal goalie Jake Allen. It was Raymond's fifth goal in six games.
"When he has an edge to his game, he's winning battles, he's getting hard goals along with some skilled goals," Detroit coach Derek Lalonde said. "He's been really good of late and we've needed him."
Late in the third period, Montreal successfully killed off a boarding major assessed to Juraj Slafkovsky. The first player chosen in the 2022 NHL entry draft, Slafkovsky was assessed a major and game misconduct for driving Detroit forward Matt Luff head-first into the boards with a check from behind. Luff didn't return to the game.
"The right call was made," Lalonde said. "It's the exact hit you want to try to avoid, because of exactly what happened. A player got seriously injured."
Allen made 41 saves, including the first-period penalty-shot stop on Larkin. Larkin was awarded the free shot after he was slashed by Montreal forward Kirby Dach while on a breakaway.
"It's tough to judge that first look," Lalonde said of Larkin's miss.
"He was gassed and he made a tired play on the penalty shot."
Husso stopped 31 shots for Detroit. He saw his personal three-game winning streak come to an end.
