I said 9-0 over the first nine.

LET'S FUCKING GO

This article from Eric Engels of Sportsnet makes me wonder how the Detroit based writers missed this.

It was on Thursday morning that the two-time Stanley Cup-winning Lalonde who took over from Jeff Blashill after assisting Jon Cooper for four years in Tampa Bay divulged his plan on how exactly his team would have to play to beat the Canadiens. After watching video of Montreals 4-3 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday, and studying the analytics that covered the period from Martin St. Louis arrival behind the Canadiens bench to his arrival in Detroit for Fridays game, Lalonde laid it out for the media.

Respectfully, he framed it as how not to lose to the Canadiens.

Since Marty took over, they are a really good rush team, the 50-year-old said. Statistically, a good rush team, they get offence off the rush, they produce off the rush, and if youre going to give them the rush, its going to be a long night. And I think its a perfect challenge for us. Where were trying to improve some things in our game is going to be an exact result of giving ourselves a chance for success against Montreal. If were going to feed them easy off the rush, its going to be a long night. They have many players who are very comfortable off the rush to make plays.

The Red Wings didnt let them.

They managed the puck to near perfection in this 3-0, home-opening win, not allowing the Canadiens to get anywhere near goaltender Ville Husso through two periods. They gave up their first high-danger scoring chance 6:30 into the third period and gave up only one more before Michael Rasmussen and Olli Maata scored empty-net goals and joined 6-foot-8 rookie Elmer Soderblom on the scoresheet to seal the deal.

But the Red Wings also applied pressure in all the right areas of the ice, while somehow never forcing the issue.

There were times when the Red Wings were in an 0-5 trap, but they spent most of the night in a 1-1-3 formation locking their own blue line and forcing the Canadiens to play a game they appeared disinclined to play.

We know how we have to play against them, said former Canadien Ben Chiarot a day prior. Theyre the third-best team on the rush since Marty took over, so we just have to wait and shut it down.

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