The Canadiens give themselves a serious option for the playoffs

Dose
Crédit:

With a win tonight, the Habs wouldn’t have officially qualified for the playoffs, but it’s almost the same.

Montreal faced the Red Wings in a big four-point game.

Here are the lineups:

After missing the last game, David Savard was back in his position. Arber Xhekaj, on the other hand, returned to the stands.

Like the last two games, the opponents started strong and scored first.

Dylan Larkin scored after a nice play by Patrick Kane.

After the first period, Detroit was only up by one goal, but dominated 24-4 in shots on goal.

Lucky that Samuel Montembeault was there in the first…

Despite the visitors’ dominance, even in the second period, the Habs stayed within a goal and only needed one shot to get back into the game.

Cole Caufield scored his 37th goal of the season after a nice defensive play.

On Caufield’s goal, number 14 also picked up his 85th point of the season.

We have to go back to 1996 to see a forward with more points than the captain in a season (Pierre Turgeon, 96).

Meanwhile, J.T. Compher is helping the Habs.

In the third period, Lane Hutson did everything for Josh Anderson. He missed a golden opportunity…

But the new dad wasn’t going to miss a second chance like that. This time, on a pass from Christian Dvorak, Andy scored his first goal since becoming a father.

In their last 12 games, this trio has more points than the team’s first line.

You read that right.

The Habs held on despite giving up 36 shots. For a second consecutive game, the Montreal goalies were almost perfect. In Monty’s case, he reached the 30-win plateau for the first time in his career.

With this win, Montreal gave itself a serious option for the playoffs.

Final score: 4-1 Habs, who scored two goals in an empty net. First, Brendan Gallagher, then Nick Suzuki.

The Habs will be back in action on Friday in Ottawa. Will Ivan Demidov make his debut?

Overtime

– Wow.

– The warrior stayed in the game, at least.

– It wouldn’t have been too much.

– Tim Stutzle is on fire.

– What an atmosphere!