Red Wings Beat Champs to Set Up Big Game in Montreal

DETROIT — Playing an important NHL game in Montreal is the stuff dreams are made of when you are a Canadian youngster.

The Detroit Red Wings have one of those special games Tuesday when they meet the Montreal Canadiens in the Bell Centre with playoff implications still attached. The hope was to enter this game two points behind to give Detroit a chance to pull even with the surprise holder of the second Eastern Conference wildcard spot.

But that didn’t occur.

While the Red Wings were beating the Florida Panthers 2-1 Sunday, the Habs downed the Nashville Predators 2-1 Sunday for their fifth consecutive win. That allows them to enter the game with a six-point lead over Detroit. However, the Red Wings, going 3-0-1 in their last four, have done enough to give themselves a sliver of hope.

“It’s probably the biggest game of the year,”  said Alex DeBrincat whose power play goal was crucial to Sunday’s win again the defending Stanley Cup champion.

What if…

If Detroit can take down the Canadiens, it would be four points behind and have one game in hand. Detroit has six games remaining and Montreal five.

“Montreal’s a fun building to play in,” DeBrincat said. “I don’t think we’re gonna have any problem getting up for the game and being ready to go.  Just a matter of playing our game.”

If the Red Wings’ quest to qualify for the playoffs fails for the ninth consecutive season, there will be many questions about the failure. What happen in the 4-9 March when the team lost its way? Why didn’t GM Steve Yzerman make the coaching change earlier? What the changes can be made to push this rebuild forward?

But for now, this is a team that feels good about the way it has performed to stay in the race.

To get to this point, they have given up only seven goals in their last four games, and beat contenders Carolina and Florida, and earned a point against a sizzling St. Louis Blues team.

“We definitely want to ride the momentum and the confidence that we’re getting from these wins into that tough building,” said goaltender Cam Talbot who has been crucial to keeping the team in the race.

Talbot Lifts Red Wings

Sunday, he made a doorstep save against Anton Lundell with just under two seconds remaining to prevent the game from going to overtime. Earlier in the streak, he preserved another 2-1 win with a memorable stop with 10 seconds left against the Boston Bruins. In his last five outings, Talbot is 3-1-1 with a 1.72 goals-against average and .945 save percentage. Talbot is clearly the goalie until the Red Wings’ fate is decided.

“The team is very confident in him right now,” coach Todd McLellan said.

The Panthers were playing the second day of back-to-back games. Plus, Sasha Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk are out with injuries. No. 1 defenseman Aaron Ekblad is also not playing because of a suspension. But the Red Wings approach has been to worry about their own game and not what is happening with the other team’s roster. Without their stars, the Panthers hammered away at Detroit, posting 42 hits in the contest.

When the stretch run started, the Red Wings had the toughest schedule (faced by opponents points percentage) faced by any playoff contender.

“Everybody talked about the strength of the schedule down the stretch, you know, again finding ways to get points,” McLellan said. “It doesn’t always have to be pretty. Sometimes it won’t be. But at the end of the day the points are important. ”