The Habs’ season may be over, but the last two games of the season against the Wings had a lot at stake for Detroit.
With a loss in regulation time, the Michigan team was officially eliminated.
Let’s see if Martin St-Louis’ troupe was able to eliminate them. Here’s the line-up:
Tonight’s lineup
Tonight’s lineup#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/c17GPQZ8Ec
– Montreal Canadiens (@CanadiensMTL) April 15, 2024
And the home team’s:
#RedWings lines in warmups before home finale vs.Canadiens:
DeBrincat-Larkin-Raymond
Perron-Compher-Kane
Fabbri-Copp-Fischer
Veleno-Czarnik-Sprong
Looks like Copp in. Aston Reese not in rushes.
Chiarot-Seider
Edvinsson-Petry
Maatta-Gostisbehere
Lyon starting. Montembeault for MTL pic.twitter.com/USSWyd6bAe– Ansar Khan (@AnsarKhanMLive) April 15, 2024
It didn’t take long for Lane Hutson to score his first NHL point.
On a Brendan Gallagher goal, he picked up an assist.
THERE IT IS! Welcome to the NHL, Lane Hutson.
First game, first point. #GoHabsGo have the 1-0 lead pic.twitter.com/jMUzLi16bq
– Marc Dumont (@MarcPDumont) April 15, 2024
Moments later, Justin Barron doubled his team’s lead.
Josh Anderson and Jake Evans picked up the assists.
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Justin Barron drops the puck to himself, picks the corner
2-0 Habs! pic.twitter.com/RXXuHQwRjD
– Scott Matla (@scottmatla) April 15, 2024
Before the end of the period, J.T. Compher gave fans some hope with a much-needed goal.
Former Habs Ben Chiarot picked up a point on the sequence.
COMPHER 🚨 Timely goal as Compher buries the rebound after DeBrincat hit the post. Detroit NEEDED that after going down 2-0 early. #LGRW pic.twitter.com/qp9RbumsWM
– Ryan Hana (@RyanHanaWWP) April 15, 2024
But in the second period, Montreal didn’t hesitate to put the skate on the gas pedal.
First, Rafaël Harvey-Pinard completed an excellent play by Jake Evans.
Rafael Harvey-Pinard can flat-out fly. 🏎️
📺: @Sportsnet or stream on Sportsnet+ ➡️ https://t.co/FmPv8M6v1l pic.twitter.com/3SLHrWaZSf
– NHL (@NHL) April 16, 2024
The 71 collected a third assist on Gallagher’s second goal some ten minutes later.
4-1 at that point.
The Anderson hit + Gallagher goal.
Red Wings are actively hurting their own playoff chances. pic.twitter.com/yEnnqKiLtt
– Marc Dumont (@MarcPDumont) April 16, 2024
Compher, however, closed the gap again.
#RedWings within 2 after JT Compher’s 2nd of the night. pic.twitter.com/5J0cZaRd86
– Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) April 16, 2024
After two periods, Hutson had already played 14 minutes and 35 seconds. He was the team’s second most-used defenseman at that point.
Clearly, the coaching staff had confidence in him.
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With their season on the line, the Wings had to start the third period in lion’s clothing. Midway through the period, Alex DeBrincat cut the game to one goal.
Suddenly, Detroit believed.
DEBRINCAT SNIPE. pic.twitter.com/8rbUFZ2sib
– Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) April 16, 2024
Late in the game, Derek Lalonde took out his goalie and the hosts took advantage of a disorganized opposing team to force overtime.
The Michigan club’s season thus continued for at least one more game.
LUCAS RAYMOND TIES IT WITH A MINUTE TO GO
IT’S ELECTRIC IN DETROIT RIGHT NOW pic.twitter.com/7tqL7UpZbV
– B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) April 16, 2024
In overtime, Detroit settled the score with another Raymond goal.
Seconds before, Hutson was frustrated by Alex Lyon from the bottom of the slot.
RAYMOND KEEPS THE HABS IN 5TH pic.twitter.com/nTZabBwI1L
– HFTV (@HFTVSports) April 16, 2024
Final score: 5-4 Wings.
The two teams will face off tomorrow at the Bell Centre in the 82nd game of the season.
Detroit will need one more point than the Capitals, who have the same number of points and will play the Flyers in Philadelphia.
Extension
– Lane Hutson’s game summary: one point, minus-1 record and 21:54 of playing time.
– Lightest defenseman in the NHL? No problem.
This is almost as fun to see as the assist on his second NHL shift.
Good defensive coverage by Hutson to create a takeaway: pic.twitter.com/AxafXtyHrp
– Marc Dumont (@MarcPDumont) April 16, 2024
– Almost a second point for the young defenseman.
A good chance here for Slafkovsky/Caufield after the Hutson point shot.
Whole Lotta Chaos. pic.twitter.com/YnRdndoADO
– Marc Dumont (@MarcPDumont) April 16, 2024
– He was solid.
Two big saves by Montembeault.
(No one show @shaunhashim) pic.twitter.com/4Q13pxW3fZ
– Marc Dumont (@MarcPDumont) April 16, 2024
– Boom.
Captain Nick Suzuki is a goon 😤
– /r/Habs (@HabsOnReddit) April 16, 2024
– I like it.
Suggestion: Martin St-Louis should pull his goalie. We’d lose the bonus point if we lose the game.
If not, well… it’d be the talk of the town and make for a good show.
– Maxime Truman (@MaximeTruman) April 16, 2024