Canadiens at Red Wings
Two Original Six franchises who will be staying home for the playoffs next week meet Thursday when the Montreal Canadiens go for a four-game season sweep against the host the Detroit Red Wings. The Canadiens have dropped 13 of their last 16 games (3-10-3) to take away any chance at a postseason berth while Detroit suffered through a 1-12-1 slump - starting in late February - to fall out of the race.
Montreal, which has outscored the Red Wings 20-6 this season including a 10-1 verdict, showed some life Tuesday night as it rallied twice in the third period to tie playoff-bound Winnipeg before losing 5-4 in overtime despite registering a 40-32 edge in shots. “I appreciate the effort tonight,” Canadiens coach Claude Julien told reporters. “It’s disappointing to lose, always a bit frustrating, especially the way the guys competed against a team that has a lot more depth than us.” Detroit, which is expected to face goalie Antti Niemi on Thursday, had won three straight contests and held a three-goal lead Tuesday on Columbus before falling 5-4 in overtime. “Sometimes you get a 4-1 lead and it’s a little bit of fool’s gold in a sense that there’s tons of hockey left, and it wasn’t like we were dominating the game,” Detroit coach Jeff Blashill told reporters Tuesday. “. … We had taken advantage of some chances, but they had some chances, too. I think we didn’t react the right way to that.”
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, RDS, TSN2 (Montreal), FS Detroit
ABOUT THE CANADIENS (28-39-13): Carey Price played his 557th game Tuesday to supplant Jacques Plante as the all-time leader for the franchise and congratulatory messages from Patrick Roy and Ken Dryden were played on the video screen during the first period. “It was definitely an emotional moment for myself,” Price, who is 16-25-7 during an injury-plagued season, told reporters. “I didn’t expect it to be, but that video and that ovation was something that I really needed.” Brendan Gallagher recorded eight of his team-leading 52 points in the last seven contests.
ABOUT THE RED WINGS (30-38-12): Center Dylan Larkin leads the team with a career-high 60 points - six coming during his current four-game streak - and veteran center Henrik Zetterberg (53) is the only other player with at least 50. Anthony Mantha owns a goal and three assists over the last three contests after managing two points in the previous 11 games. Left wing Evgeny Svechnikov (four points, 14 games), defenseman Joe Hicketts (three assists, five games) and goalie Tom McCollum were sent to Grand Rapids of the American Hockey League on Wednesday.
OVERTIME
1. Detroit LW Tyler Bertuzzi registered his first two-goal game of his career Tuesday to push his season total to six.
2. Montreal F Nikita Scherbak suffered a concussion in Tuesday’s game and will miss the rest of the season.
3. Red Wings LW Justin Abdelkader is one goal away from 100 for his career, but is mired in an eight-game drought.