Detroit City Wire

The Detroit Red Wings are set to face the Montreal Canadiens in a home-and-home back-to-back series starting Friday at Little Caesars Arena. The game, which pits two Original Six and Atlantic Division rivals against each other, will begin at 7 p.m. and will be broadcast on FanDuel Sports Network Detroit and the Red Wings Radio Network.

Detroit's head coach Derek Lalonde expressed enthusiasm for the matchup, stating, “It’s always neat playing Montreal... For us, it’s an opportunity to try to keep our game in order.” The Red Wings come into the game following a victory over the Philadelphia Flyers with key contributions from Lucas Raymond, J.T. Compher, Dylan Larkin, and Patrick Kane.

Defenseman Simon Edvinsson will be absent due to an upper body injury for at least this series. Coach Lalonde sees this as “a great opportunity for our other D to step up,” recalling past challenges when Edvinsson was unavailable.

Currently separated by three points in the standings, both teams aim to strengthen their positions within the division. Montreal enters the series fresh off a win against Buffalo Sabres where Patrik Laine scored a hat trick. Since joining from Columbus Blue Jackets in August, Laine has made an impact with seven points in seven games.

Nick Suzuki leads Montreal with 32 points this season while Cole Caufield has scored 17 goals. Sam Montembeault is expected to start as goaltender for Friday’s game.

Albert Johansson of Detroit anticipates closely contested matches: “They have a couple good guys on their team, so for us, we just need to focus on our game.”