NHL: Detroit Red Wings open 2022-23 season with 3-0 win over Canadiens: Game thread replay
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Season opener: Detroit Red Wings (0-0-0) vs. Montreal Canadiens (1-0-0)
When: 7 p.m. Friday.
Where: Little Caesars Arena, Detroit.
TV: Bally Sports Detroit.
Radio: WXYT-FM (97.1; Wings radio affiliates).
GOOD VIBES:Red Wings ready to emerge from rebuild with confidence and fresh look
Game notes: The Canadiens have had a weird past couple of seasons, riding Carey Price to the Stanley Cup Finals in the NHL’s Toronto/Edmonton bubble in 2020, then falling all the way to the league’s worst record — and a win in the draft lottery — in 2021 without Price in net. With that No. 1 pick, they passed on the favorite (Shane Wright, who fell to Seattle at No. 4) in favor of talented Slovak teen Juraj Slafkovsky. He went scoreless in his NHL debut Wednesday night, but their other young star, Cole Caufield, picked up the slack with two goals and Josh Anderson scored with 19 seconds remaining to stun Original Six rival Toronto in Montreal.
If the Habs’ rebuild is going to gain traction quickly, Caufield (who played his college games at Wisconsin) will need to be the electric player he was in the playoff bubble — with four goals in 10 games — despite his 5-foot-7 frame and not the occasionally missing-in-action forward he was last season in scoring 22 goals and adding 23 assists. (The Habs made history in another way Wednesday night: Defenseman Arber Xhekaj — pronounced “Jack-Eye” — became the first NHL player whose last name begins with “X.”)
The Wings won’t be starting their 2022 first-rounder, Marco Kasper, but they will have an exciting youngster on the ice in 6-foot-8 Elmer Söderblom. The big Swede made the opening night roster and will play on a line featuring 6-6 Michael Rasmussen and 6-3 Oskar Sundqvist.
The Wings won’t have much time to rest after their opener, heading right to Newark to face the New Jersey Devils and then coming hope to face the L.A. Kings on Monday. Likewise, the Habs head to D.C. to face the Washington Capitals on Saturday night, then return home for a visit from the Pittsburgh Penguins on Monday.
THE DISH:Meet your 2022-23 Detroit Red Wings — who crave mac & cheese, bacon and kebob pizza
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: NHL: Detroit Red Wings shut out Canadiens, 3-0: Game thread replay
