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After Sunday night’s game, the Montreal Canadiens found themselves with a six-point lead over two teams in the wild card race: the New York Rangers and the Detroit Red Wings. The latter will be in town on Tuesday night for a crucial duel with the Habs. It will be the fourth and final game of the season between the two sides, and the stakes have never been higher.
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The Red Wings won the last meeting 4-2 in January, but the Canadiens won both of the December back-to-back games by scores of 4-3 and 5-1. Montreal has won its last five games, while Detroit is running a two-game winning streak. The Habs have a 5-3-2 record in the previous 10 games, while the Wings are 5-4-1.
Montreal had a day off yesterday, so there’s been no update yet on the availability of either Emil Heinman or David Savard. As for the starter, Jakub Dobes was great on Sunday night, but Samuel Montembeault remains the number one goaltender and should be back in the net. He has a 3-1-2 record against the Wings with a 2.97 goals-against average and a .902 save percentage. As for Dobes, he has never faced them.
Detroit has already confirmed that Cam Talbot will be in the net on Tuesday night. He has a 9-3-1 record, a 1.61 GAA, and an excellent .940 SP. It looks like the Canadiens will have their work cut out for them.
Up front, Brendan Gallagher is the Canadiens’ most prolific scorer against Detroit with 30 points in 36 games, followed by Patrik Laine, who has 21 points in 23 games, and Nick Suzuki with 14 points in 18 games. The Wings would do well to keep a close eye on Lane Hutson, who is now tied with Chris Chelios for the most points by a Canadiens’ rookie defenseman with 64. Expect the roof to come off the arena if the rookie does break the record; he has become a fan favourite in no time.
On the other side, Patrick Kane has 22 points in 27 games, followed by Dylan Larkin with 21 points in 33 tilts and Alex DeBrincat with 19 points in 18 games.
The Red Wings have won six of the last ten games against the Canadiens, with Montreal grabbing the other four. The Habs have five games left, while the Wings have six. A regulation loss on Tuesday night would be disastrous for the Wings; it would put the Canadiens eight points ahead of them, with only 10 points up for grabs on the season. It wouldn’t mean a mathematical elimination but would make the prospect even more likely. As for the Canadiens, they'll try to win a sixth game in a row for the first time this season.
According to Moneypuck, the Canadiens currently have an 87.2% chance of making the playoffs, whereas the Wings’ odds are only 5.6%. That’s an uphill battle if there ever was one.
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