Red Wings 4 Canadiens 3
DETROIT -- Riley Sheahan scored two goals and the Detroit Red Wings held off the Montreal Canadiens for a 4-3 win Thursday night at Joe Louis Arena.
Luke Glendening also scored and Anthony Mantha got his first career goal for Detroit. Mike Green had two assists and Petr Mrazek made 26 saves.
Tomas Plekanec, Paul Byron and Max Pacioretty scored for Montreal. Ben Scrivens made 36 saves.
Sheahan gave Detroit a 1-0 lead with 1:14 left in the first period. He backhanded in the rebound of Brendan Smith's shot. It was Sheahan's 10th goal.
It was the second time the Red Wings have scored the first goal in their past 11 games.
Mrazek stopped Pacioretty on a short-handed breakaway with 9:19 left in the first period.
Glendening and Sheahan scored 12 seconds apart early in the second period to make it 3-0.
Glendening beat Scrivens from the bottom of the right circle off a goal-mouth scramble 5:36 into the second period for his seventh goal and third in four games. Sheahan's second goal of the game and 11th of the season came on a breakaway at 5:48. He made a move on Scrivens and put a forehand shot under the crossbar.
Mantha scored a power-play goal with 2:33 left in the second period to make it 4-0. He put in a rebound for his first NHL goal. Mantha's parents were in attendance as well as his grandfather Andre Pronovost, who played for Montreal and Detroit during his NHL career.
Plekanec made it 4-1, 47 seconds into the third period on a shot from the inside edge of the left circle that hit Mrazek and trickled into the net. It was Plakanec's 13th goal.
Byron made it 4-2, 4:16 into the third period when he poked in a rebound for his 10th goal.
Pacioretty's goal 7:50 into the third period pulled the Canadiens to within 4-3. His shot from the right circle deflected in off the skate of Red Wings defenseman Niklas Kronwall. It was Pacioretty's 25th goal
NOTE: Montreal C David Desharnais returned after missing 17 games with a broken foot. ... Detroit came into the game tied for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference playoff race with the Philadelphia Flyers, who had one game in hand. The Red Wings have made the playoffs the past 24 seasons. ... The Canadiens were also without D P.K. Subban (neck) and RW Sven Andrighetto (upper body). Subban is expected to return soon . ... Detroit's healthy scratches were RW Tomas Jurco, RW Teemu Pulkkinen and D Alexey Marchenko.