Canadiens 2, Blackhawks 1 (OT)
All-Star defenseman P.K. Subban scored 1:19 into overtime as the Montreal Canadiens clinched a playoff berth with a 2-1 home win over the Chicago Blackhakws on Tuesday.
The Bell Centre crowd roared as the rookie blue-liner's power-play winner for Montreal (43-30-7) eliminated any chance that ninth-place Carolina could surpass it in the Eastern Conference standings.
Carolina can now only catch the eighth-place New York Rangers in the standings.
With the overtime loss, Chicago (42-28-9) pulled into a tie with idle Anaheim for seventh place in the Western Conference, just two points ahead of ninth-place Calgary. Chicago has three games remaining in the regular season, while Calgary has two more games to play.
Montreal’s Mike Cammalleri opened the scoring 6:55 into the second period before Chicago’s Patrick Kane tied the score at 10:05 of the session. The tally also served as Kane's 300th career point.
Goaltending was stellar for both sides. Carey Price stopped 42 shots for Montreal, while Chicago netminder Corey Crawford made 33 saves.
Blackhawks forward Troy Brouwer left the game in the third period with an apparent shoulder injury. Brouwer missed a check on Canadiens forward Lars Eller and crashed to the ice near the boards in the Montreal zone.