Red Wings at Canadiens
The Montreal Canadiens are in position to claim the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference, but they will face another surging squad when they host the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday night. The Canadiens are coming off a stunning comeback, scoring seven unanswered goals in a 7-4 win over Ottawa on Friday night to move two points ahead of Tampa Bay for second place in the Atlantic Division. Montreal has dropped two of three to the Red Wings this season, but won at Detroit on March 27.
The Red Wings are inching closer to a record 23rd consecutive postseason appearance, extending their winning streak to four games with a 3-2 victory over Buffalo on Friday to open a three-point lead over Columbus for the top wild-card slot in the Eastern Conference. The Red Wings won all three games on their homestand by identical 3-2 scores but play four of their final five on the road. "We’re going to keep going, we can’t let up," forward Daniel Alfredsson said. "We put ourselves in a good spot."
TV: 7 p.m. ET, FSN Detroit, NHL Network, CBC, RDS
ABOUT THE RED WINGS (37-26-14): Two-way standout Pavel Datsyuk returned to the lineup for the first time since Feb. 27 due to a knee injury that caused him to sit out 16 games. While Datsyuk failed to hit the scoresheet, his teammates were quick to point out that his presence provides a ripple effect throughout the lineup. "Pavel looks obviously great," said Tomas Jurco, who registered a power-play goal in Friday's win. "He can play with a broken leg and he's still gonna look great. It's unbelievable how much energy and how much confidence he brings on the ice."
ABOUT THE CANADIENS (44-27-7): Montreal has won nine of its last 11 games but perhaps no victory was as impressive as Friday, when it fell behind by three goals in the first six minutes. Max Pacioretty recorded his third hat trick of the season as part of a five-point night to fuel the comeback and boost his goal total to a career-high 38. “The puck is just going in. That’s the way it goes sometimes,” Pacioretty said. “I got a lot of help from my linemates tonight and got some favorable bounces. You just keep working hard and wait for those to come and good things happen.”
OVERTIME
1. Red Wings G Jonas Gustavsson takes a 5-2-1 record and 2.16 goals-against average versus Montreal into Saturday's start.
2. Red Wings G Carey Price is 3-3-1 lifetime against Detroit.
3. Red Wings coach Mike Babcock needs one win to pass Jack Adams (413) for the franchise record.