MONTREAL — Josh Anderson scored the winner with 9:12 remaining in the third period and Sam Montembeault made 35 saves as the Montreal Canadiens beat the Detroit Red Wings 4-1 on Tuesday for their sixth straight win.
Cole Caufield – with his team-leading 37th – also scored while Brendan Gallagher and Nick Suzuki added empty-netters for Montreal (39-30-9), which strengthened its position in the playoff picture.
Montreal (87 points) built an eight-point cushion over Detroit, the New York Rangers and the Columbus Blue Jackets for the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card spot with one more game played. The New York Islanders (78 points) played the Nashville Predators later Tuesday.
By beating Detroit, Montreal also helped the Ottawa Senators clinch a playoff spot for the first time since 2017.
Dylan Larkin replied for Detroit (36-34-7) and Cam Talbot stopped 17 shots at the Bell Centre. The Red Wings failed to earn a point for the first time in five games.
Larkin tapped in a feed from Patrick Kane on an odd-man rush to open the scoring at 9:54 of the first period.
Caufield tied the game at 16:29 of the second with a backhand between Talbot’s legs on the rebound.
The Canadiens took a 2-1 lead when Christian Dvorak set up Anderson alone in front while Detroit’s Albert Johansson was picking his helmet up off the ice.
Takeaways
Canadiens: Another slow start for Montreal, which was playing its fifth game in eight nights. The Canadiens’ habit of struggling to start games reached a new level when the Red Wings poured on 23 shots in the first period, the most Montreal has allowed in a period this season. The team, however, rallied back to claim two points, another recent trend.
Red Wings: Detroit’s first-period shot total wasn’t far off the 27.2 it averaged entering Tuesday’s game. The Red Wings’ playoff hopes died in this building last season despite pulling off a dramatic 5-4 shootout win in their regular-season finale.
Key moment
After Caufield’s equalizer, Detroit’s J.T. Compher missed a gaping net after a weird bounce around the boards left Montembeault out of his net. Compher’s attempt floated high.
Key stat
Suzuki reached 86 points this season, giving him the highest total by a Canadien since Pierre Turgeon (96) and Vincent Damphousse (94) in 1995-96 – more than three years before Montreal’s captain was born.
Up next
Canadiens: Begin a two-game road trip against the Ottawa Senators on Friday.
Red Wings: Visit the Florida Panthers on Thursday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 8, 2025.
Daniel Rainbird, The Canadian Press
