In the Room of the Habs: Montreal is now a little thin on the net after Jake Allen was injured

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The Canadiens find themselves in a difficult situation as they head to Boston on Sunday for the second half of a back-to-back series.

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Montreal lost 3-2 in overtime to the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena on Saturday night, but suffered a more significant loss when goalie Jake Allen left the game with a concussion. Allen, who was the workhorse on target in Carey Price’s absence, was injured when Dylan Larkin was pushed into him late in the first period.

There was no immediate word on the severity of the injury and no set return schedule, but the Canadiens announced after the game Cayden Primeau was recalled from the Laval Rocket and will join the team on Sunday in Boston.

In the moments after the incident, it appeared that Larkin was carrying most of the collision, but he continued to play and scored two goals, including the overtime winner. He found the weak point in Samuel Montembeault’s game when he scored both goals from sharp angles along the goal line, placing both shots behind the goalkeeper’s back.

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The Canadiens seemed to blame the success on Larkin with Ryan Poehling, saying it was one of the worst cases of goalkeeper interference, while Chris Wideman said he knew Larkin and “he’s not such a player.”

He is right in that regard because Larkin was not the culprit in this incident. Jeff Petry, who was trying to get to the play after he was caught pinching, gave Larkin a push and he was unable to avoid Allen.

Montembeault gave up goals on the first two shots he faced before calming down to stop the next 22 shots in front of Larkin’s winner. Coach Dominique Ducharme said the Canadiens contributed to the first two goals by turning the puck.

“I don’t think we fell asleep, but those two goals gave them life,” Ducharme said. “They got the momentum, but we had a few mistakes. I liked the way we played in the third. There will always be ups and downs in a game. “

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The Canadiens collected at least one point for their third consecutive game, but there had to be some disappointment in losing to a team they beat easily in their first two games in Montreal.

Montreal had 37 shots on goal and were players from the bottom six who provided the offense.

Poehling, who is two games away from the Laval Rocket, opened the scoring with his first goal since January 2020.

“It’s been a while since I’ve won one and it felt good,” Poehling said. “I think our line is doing a good job and the coach had faith in us. He had us out there with four minutes remaining in the game.”

The league goal was scored by Wideman, who was the beneficiary of a blind pass from Artturi Lehkonen, who was sprawled behind the goal line after hitting in the endboards.

Lehkonen was pushed heavily into the board before he sent the puck behind him into the slot to Wideman.

“I am still amazed at the passage; he was on his ass, ”Wideman said.

phickey@postmedia.com

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