Abel to Yzerman

Abel to Yzerman

The Matchup Tonight

10/23/2021 at 8:45am EDT

from Pat Hickey of the Montreal Gazette,

Here are five things you should know about the Canadiens-Red Wings game at the Bell Centre Saturday...

The matchup: The last time these teams met was in the pandemic-shortened 2019-20 season and things did not go well for the Canadiens. Detroit had the worst record, by far, in the NHL, but they swept the four-game season series against the Canadiens, outscoring Montreal 14-9. The Canadiens dropped a 4-1 decision to Carolina on Thursday and are the only team without a point in the standings after starting the season with five consecutive losses. The Red Wings, who have gone five seasons without earning a playoff berth, are 2-1-1 after losing 3-0 to Calgary on Thursday.

Turnaround for Larkin: Tyler Bertuzzi is off to a fast start for the Red Wings, with five goals and an assist in four games, but Detroit is hoping this is a turnaround season for homegrown talent Dylan Larkin. Larkin had a breakthrough season in 2018-19, when he had 32 goals and 73 points, but his past two seasons have been disappointing. He had 19 goals in 2019-20 and scored only nine goals in 44 games last season as he struggled with injuries. He’s healthy again and he has a goal and two assists in three games. But the most encouraging sign is that he’s paying more attention to defence. He has a plus-4 rating after going a combined minus-78 during his first six seasons.

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Welcome to Abel to Yzerman, a Red Wing blog since 1977. No other site on the internet has better-researched, fact-laden and better prepared discussions than A2Y. Re-phrase: we do little research, find facts and stats highly overrated and claim little to no preparation. There are 19 readers of A2Y. No more, no less. All of them, except maybe one, are juvenile in nature. Reminding them of that in the comment section will only encourage them to prove that.

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