MONTREAL — Jonathan Bernier knew he was locked in from the moment he stepped onto the ice for warm-up.
In front of friends and family in Montreal, Bernier made a season-high 42 saves as the league-worst Detroit Red Wings downed the Canadiens 2-1 Saturday night.
The Wings have won two games in a row since dropping 12 straight.
“From warm-up, the puck just seemed to be slower,” said Bernier, who improved to 7-9-2 this year. “If you talk to a pitcher or a goalie, they’ll understand what I’m saying. For me, that’s what it is. When you’re feeling good, you’re just seeing things slower.
“Some games are harder, mentally, than others but tonight I felt pretty good.”
Montreal outshot Detroit 43-20 as Bernier stopped every chance except one.
The Laval, Que., native denied Phillip Danault on a short-handed breakaway in the first. He made key saves on Brendan Gallagher and Nick Cousins, from the slot, in the second.
With Montreal piling on the pressure in the third, the Red Wings goalie made his best save of the night on rookie Nick Suzuki, with his glove, while sprawled out on the ice. Bernier stopped 20 shots in the third period alone.
It was the goaltender’s second victory against the Canadiens this season after a 4-2 triumph in Montreal’s home opener.
The 31-year-old was 47 seconds away from his first shut out of the season but Tomas Tatar scored a consolation goal for Montreal with a one-timer from the blue line. Carey Price was on the bench for the extra skater.
“Bernier played good,” said Wings coach Jeff Blashill. “He made a lot real good saves. He hung in there strong. We gave up some chances that I didn’t think we needed to, but when we did, he was real good.”
Blashill’s men came into Bell Centre with the league’s worst record and worst offence, but they only needed two goals to defeat the Canadiens.
The Wings (9-22-3) took a 1-0 lead after 3:21 on Tyler Bertuzzi’s 11th of the season. Dylan Larkin orchestrated the goal by stealing the puck from Shea Weber behind the net before feeding a wide-open Bertuzzi in the slot.
The game remained close until Mike Green doubled Detroit’s lead at 7:42 of the third on the power play. Green fooled Price blocker side with a one-timer from the point that went off the post and in. Riley Barber was in the box for slashing.
The Canadiens (15-12-6) saw their three-game win streak come to an end.
“We were soft on the puck for at least two periods,” said coach Claude Julien. “We should have been stronger on the puck. When you play that way, you’re playing with fire. We also took three bad penalties in the offensive zone.
“I don’t think we were on top of our game tonight.”
The Canadiens had their chances, though, before Green made it 2-0.
Jordan Weal fired a shot off the crossbar in the first period and Joel Armia’s soft backhand hit the post in the second.
“Even though we had more shots, they were probably the better team,” said Gallagher, who saw his five-game point streak come to an end. “A lot of our chances were from the outside. When you don’t get enough quality scoring chances, you can’t bury them.
“We probably got the result we deserved.”
Wings leading goal scorer Anthony Mantha, who missed the last eight games with a lower-body injury, was back in the lineup. Winger Andreas Athanasiou also returned from injury after missing two matches.
The Canadiens embark on their annual Christmas road trip. They play seven games away from Bell Centre to end the calendar year.
Notes: Price made 18 saves in defeat. … Danault’s five-game point streak came to an end. … The Wings snapped a 12-game winless streak (0-10-2) by beating the Winnipeg Jets 5-2 on Thursday.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 14, 2019.
Kelsey Patterson, The Canadian Press
