Montreal Canadiens have had much to celebrate lately, but their success has only put the team back on even par. (Paul Chiasson/Canadian Press) Getting over the .500 mark has been a struggle for the Montreal Canadiens, but they're certainly giving it the old collège try.
The Habs (11-11) have won three of their last four, including a nail-destroying 3-2 win in Washington on Friday night, and can rise above the mediocrity mark with a Saturday victory over the visiting Detroit Red Wings (CBC Sports, CBCSports.ca, 7 p.m. ET).
Montreal also has wins over Phoenix and Carolina, plus a loss to Nashville, in the recent quartet of games as they try to make it past .500 for the first time since Oct. 26.
Beating the hot Capitals in the U.S. capital may have been the most impressive, however, especially the gritty way Les Habitants hung on in the final 210 seconds.
Brendan Morrison scored to cut the lead to 3-2 at that point and Montreal then took a penalty, leaving goaltender Carey Price to play kitty bar the door against the NHL's best offence.
Pulled it off just fine.
"The last three and a half minutes were kind of hectic," said coach Jacques Martin, stretching understatement a tad. "But up to that point I thought we were managing the game well."
Montreal's defence has been strong lately, keeping the opposition to two goals or less in each of the last five outings.
Price has been in the crease for the last four, going 3-1 with a strong 1.96 goals-against average, but with the back-to-back that could mean Jaroslav Halak will start against Detroit.
Halak is 5-2 with a 2.47 goals against in his last seven starts.
Into the Bell Centre comes a Wings club struggling recently to score goals, but also one showing it's ready to break out once again.
Detroit threw 40 shots at Florida's Scott Clemmensen but could only find the net once, courtesy Pavel Datsyuk's ability to nab his own rebound and roll the puck by the outstretched pad of the Panthers' netminder.
"We had more than enough chances," said Wings' coach Mike Babcock, who has seen his club score just three times in its last trio of outings. "We didn't have much puck luck."
Luck is something you create yourself, and Detroit (10-6-4) has certainly been among the best at that over the past decade and a half.
Plus, you can bet a club that scored 19 goals in wins over Columbus, Vancouver and Anaheim before the slump hit, is going to find the range again sooner rather than later.
"We battled hard [against Florida], the puck just wouldn't go in," said Wings' defenceman Niklas Kronwall.
Montreal's defence needs to ensure that trouble continues for one more night.
With files from The Canadian Press
