MONTREAL — This was a thin and weak Montreal lineup Tuesday the Red Wings faced, and the Wings did exactly what a maturing team should do.
The Wings never gave the Canadiens a chance, scoring early and often in a decisive 5-0 victory.
Montreal natives David Perron (two goals and one assist) and Joe Veleno (goal) each got on the scoresheet, and Lucas Raymond and Matt Luff added goals, while goaltender Ville Husso returned to the lineup and stopped 23 shots for his fourth shutout.
The Wings (35-33-9) swept a two-game road trip through Toronto and Montreal and have now won four of their last five games.
Montreal dropped its fourth consecutive game (30-42-6), while potentially improving draft lottery odds.
It was certainly a nice evening for Perron, who sparked the Wings offensively in his hometown. The two goals gave Perron 22 for the season, with 52 total points.
Perron's breakaway goal at 10 minutes, 9 seconds of the first period gave the Wings a 2-0 lead and dampened the energy level in the arena for the remainder of the evening.
"He just has that competitive edge," said coach Derek Lalonde after the morning skate. "He's tough to manage sometimes, he's that classic guy who'll say we need to have a calm bench and two seconds later he's yelling to everybody to make the proper play. With this group, we need it. There's a passion he has, an intensity he has that is so organic. He's helped this group a ton."
Lalonde laughed about an incident last week when Lalonde was ejected from the game, but Perron scored three goals in the third period to secure a Wings victory.
"He told me he'd have my back there," Lalonde said. "I got ejected and he scored a hat trick. Our relationship is in a good spot.
"The entire veteran core has helped us immensely. David Perron, Ben Chiarot, as much as (general manager) Steve (Yzerman) did roster wise to improve us and go to another level, what we did in our room with those guys, they've won they've been around winning, and just their professional habits, it's also helped us a ton."
Lalonde talked after Tuesday's morning skate about the Wings' improved defense this season and it was quite apparent against Montreal, as the Wings limited quality scoring chances.
"We're a much better team defensively," Lalonde said. "We're top 10 in shots against in the league, we've improved our team defense, the goal differential, the goals against. There's still a ton of growth in that area but this team has been committed to the defensive side of the puck, playing the right way, and no matter what lineup we have fielded of late, it's one of the reasons we're finding success."
Husso returned after missing the last two weeks with a lower-body injury, and was sharp when called upon, while winning his 26th game (26-19-6).
Husso was excited to return to play after missing the last seven games, and eager to build upon one of his best pro seasons and already establishing a career-best 52 games played.
"Nice to come back," Husso said. "It's always not fun to play and watch the games. I'm just lucky I can come back now and just try to go out there and have fun."
Whatever it is that's been bothering Husso, it developed just before Husso was sent to the sidelines.
"Not the full season (has it been bothering him), but I would say at the end, probably when I look back at those games, there's a couple of goals I'd like to have back," Husso said. "I'm not saying it's because (of the injury) but it's still nice to be back fully (healthy) now.
"I'm just going out there now, play hockey again, and the mindset is clear. I'm not worried about it at all."
