Montreal 4, Detroit 3
When: 7:30 PM ET, Thursday, April 9, 2015
Where: Bell Centre, Montreal, Quebec
Referees:
Chris Rooney, Brad Watson
Linesmen:
Brad Kovachik, Steve Barton
Attendance:
21287
By The Sports Xchange
MONTREAL -- Center Lars Eller scored the winner at 1:21 of overtime, leading the Montreal Canadiens to a 4-3 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday night at the Bell Centre.
With the overtime point and Boston Bruins' regulation loss to the Florida Panthers, Detroit clinched a playoff berth for a 24th consecutive season.
Centers Tomas Tatar, Pavel Datsyuk and Darren Helm scored in regulation for the Red Wings (42-25-14).
Defensemen Andrei Markov and Jeff Petry and center Tomas Plekanec replied for Montreal (49-22-10). The Canadiens remain two points ahead of the Tampa Bay Lightning in the battle to win the Atlantic Division title.
Goaltender Carey Price made 24 saves for the Canadiens, earning his record-setting 43rd win of the season. Goalie Jimmy Howard stopped 22 shots for Detroit.
Helm put the Red Wings ahead 3-2 with a short-handed tally at 3:34 of the third period. The speedy winger intercepted Markov's pass at the Detroit blue line before lifting the puck just under the crossbar.
Plekanec tied it 3-3 on a two-man advantage. Defenseman P.K. Subban fed Markov at the right point before the latter sent the puck down to Plekanec between the goal line and the bottom of the circle, where he found an opening five-hole on Howard at 11:39.
Tatar's 29th of the season got the scoring started at 10:19 of the first period. After taking a pass from center Pavel Datsyuk in the neutral zone, left winger Henrik Zetterberg returned the puck to Datsyuk at the Canadiens' blue line. Datsyuk skated to the right circle and found a streaking Tatar, who roofed it from the left circle.
Markov tied the game with a strike that seemed to catch the entire arena by surprise. Subban picked up the puck along the left boards and quickly dished off to Markov at the center of the blue line. The Habs veteran wasted little time in getting his shot off, firing a blast through a screen at 17:36.
Petry extended his point streak to six games when he put the Canadiens ahead 2-1 at 6:24 of the second period. Left winger Brandon Prust got the puck up to center Torrey Mitchell in the neutral zone before Mitchell skated to the bottom of the left circle and fed a pinching Petry at the inner hash marks.
Just over a minute and a half later, Datsyuk took advantage of Montreal's inability to clear the zone. Zetterberg won a battle for the puck along the boards and dished off to Datsyuk, who skated into the high slot and sent a shot off Canadiens defenseman Alexei Emelin's stick to the back of the net, tying the score at 2.
NOTES: Canadiens LW Max Pacioretty missed a game for the first time this season after sustaining an upper-body injury Sunday. He also will miss Saturday's regular-season finale at Toronto. ... The Red Wings wrap up the regular season with a Saturday road game against the Carolina Hurricanes. ... Detroit announced Thursday that RW Erik Cole was advised by doctors to sit out the remainder of the regular season and the playoffs due to a spine contusion. ... Montreal D Greg Pateryn replaced D Tom Gilbert in the line-up, the latter announced as day-to-day with an upper-body injury. ... Red Wings D Niklas Kronwall suited up for his 674th NHL game, passing Bruce MacGregor for 19th place in franchise history. ... The Canadiens scratched C Manny Malhotra, D Mike Weaver and D Sergei Gonchar. ... Detroit scratched D Jakub Kindl and RW Daniel Cleary while LW Justin Abdelkader and RW Tomas Jurco sat out with injuries.
Top Game Performances
| Detroit |
|
Montreal |
|
Pavel Datsyuk 2 |
Points |
Andrei Markov 2 |
|
Pavel Datsyuk 1 |
Goals |
Andrei Markov 1 |
|
Henrik Zetterberg 2 |
Assists |
P.K. Subban 2 |
|
N/A |
Power Play Goals |
Tomas Plekanec 1 |
|
Darren Helm 1 |
Short Handed Goals |
N/A |
|
Jimmy Howard .846 |
Save Percentage |
Carey Price .889 |
|
Jimmy Howard 22 |
Saves |
Carey Price 24 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Shots |
Goals |
Power Play |
Penalty Kill |
Penalty Mins |
Face Offs Won |
| Detroit
|
27 |
3 |
0-5 |
3-4 |
8 |
32 |
| Montreal
|
26 |
4 |
1-4 |
5-5 |
10 |
25 |
Upcoming Games
-
Montreal will play their next game on the road against Toronto. The Canadiens have a W/L % of .646 after a win and .545 after a loss.
-
Detroit will play their next game on the road against Carolina. The Red Wings have a W/L % of .488 after a win and .553 after a loss.
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