Mike Matheson had a goal and an assist, and Brendan Gallagher and Nick Suzuki each had two assists for Montreal (1-1-0), which lost 5-2 at the Toronto Maple Leafs in its season opener on Wednesday.
Dylan Larkin scored for Detroit in its season opener. John Gibson allowed five goals on 13 shots in his Red Wings debut before being removed at 17:12 of the second period. Cam Talbot made four saves in relief.
The Red Wings scored on their first power play of the season. Patrick Kane took the puck below the goal line and faked to go behind the net before slipping a pass to Larkin, who beat Dobes at 3:50 of the first period for a 1-0 lead.
Zack Bolduc tied the game 1-1 at 10:14, getting behind the Red Wings defense and beating Gibson for his second goal of the season. Bolduc has two goals in his first two games with Montreal after being traded from the St. Louis Blues on July 1.
Oliver Kapanen made it 2-1 at 12:43, finishing off a rink-length passing move by putting in Alex Newhook’s cross-slot pass. The forward scored his first NHL goal on Wednesday against Toronto.
The Canadiens went end-to-end again in the dying seconds of the period, with Mike Matheson scoring from the slot to put Montreal up 3-1 at 19:53.
Alexandre Carrier scored on Montreal’s first shot of the second period to take a 4-1 lead. His long wrist shot sailed over Gibson’s shoulder at 5:15.
Juraj Slafkovsky made it 5-1 on the power play at 17:12.
Canadiens cruise past Red Wings for 1st win of season
