Canadiens score six straight against Red Wings, get first win of season

MONTREAL --The Montreal Canadiens ended their season-opening five-game losing streak with a 6-1 win against the Detroit Red Wings at Bell Centre on Saturday.

Mathieu Perreault scored his third NHL hat trick, Christian Dvorak and Ben Chiarot each had a goal and an assist, and Sami Niku had two assists in his debut with the Canadiens (1-5-0), whose losing streak was their longest to start a season since 1995-96. Jake Allen made 26 saves.
"Nobody wants to have that feeling again," Montreal coach Dominique Ducharme said. "That was a long 10 days."
Dylan Larkin scored for the Red Wings (2-2-1), who were without their leading scorer Tyler Bertuzzi, who is unvaccinated against COVID-19.

"We knew he was going to be out, and he's out," Detroit coach Jeff Blashill said. "We had 20 dressed good enough to win the hockey game. We've got to execute better."
Thomas Greiss allowed five goals on 17 shots before being replaced in the second period by Alex Nedeljkovic, who made six saves.
"We were giving them some pretty good looks," Red Wings defenseman Marc Staal said. "I mean, one of them goes off my skate and in. The other ones are just 2-on-1s and 3-on-2s, so [Greiss is] not to blame. We weren't giving him enough support and just making it easy on them. They were really hard on him."
Larkin gave Detroit a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 5:25 of the first period.
Chiarot tied it 1-1 at 14:10 of the first, shooting glove side on Greiss from the left circle after receiving a cross-ice pass from Jonathan Drouin.
Mike Hoffman scored his first goal with Montreal on a power play at 16:15 to make it 2-1.

"Obviously, it's great to get the first one out of the way," said Hoffman, who missed training camp and the first three games because of a lower-body injury. "Our power play hasn't been what we wanted it to be so far (2-for-23), so it was nice to get one for that department."
Dvorak also scored his first goal with the Canadiens to extend the lead to 3-1 at 3:17 of the second period. Skating in on a 4-on-2 rush, Dvorak took a return pass from Niku and was credited with the goal when his pass for Josh Anderson redirected in off the skate of Staal.
Perreault joined Hoffman and Dvorak by scoring his first with the Canadiens to push it to 4-1 at 7:45, capitalizing off a turnover in the neutral zone by Mitchell Stephens. He then chased Greiss following his second goal at 9:59 that made it 5-1.
"[Perreault], he had a great game, deserved everything that came to him," Hoffman said. "He was a big part of the win tonight."
Perreault completed the hat trick when he shot into an empty net at 13:16 of the third period for the 6-1 final.
"My wife was here and I had some friends in the building as well, and when [the crowd] chanted my name, I had chills in my back," said Perreault, who is from Drummondville, Quebec. "It was one of the most special moments that you just remember for the rest of your life."
NOTES: Perreault's hat trick was his first since he scored four goals with the Winnipeg Jets against the Florida Panthers on Jan. 13, 2015. It was also the first natural hat trick by a Canadiens player since Max Pacioretty had one against the Minnesota Wild on Nov. 19, 2013. … Bertuzzi skated on his own the past two days and will rejoin the Red Wings for their game at the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday. … Defenseman Joel Edmundson is back in Montreal but will not join the Canadiens on their upcoming four-game road trip, Ducharme said. Edmundson missed training camp because of an undisclosed injury and had been with his family to support his father's battle with cancer.