You win some, you lose some.
Two points were on the table at the beginning of the night, but by the end, only one team could walk away with both of them.
Detroit Red Wings (Eric Bolte-Imagn Images)
With the final Wild Card position still up for grabs in the Eastern Conference, the Red Wings came out all guns-ablazing. By the time the first period had passed, they were massively out-shooting their opponent 23-4. They were also up 1-0 on the scoreboard, so everything seemed dandy.
The Red Wings top defender, Moritz Seider, is no stranger to playing a lot of minutes over the course of a game. His average ice time per game this season is 25:09, a career-high.
In Tuesday’s game, he played 27:05, the highest of any skater on either team.
Sam Montembeault was a wall for the Canadiens. He stopped 35 of the 36 shots fired his way in the game. He finished the contest with a .972 save percentage.
The bigger story for Montembeault wasn’t just the volume of shots that he stopped, but the quality of chances he snubbed. According to MoneyPuck, he finished the game with 2.91 Goals Saved Above Expected.
Meaning, if Montembeault was playing “average” the Red Wings should have scored two or three more goals than they did. Sadly for them, the Canadiens goaltender was anything but average.
Essentially, the stars have to align and every planet needs to spin at just the right speed for the Red Wings to make it. Or put another way, there is absolutely no chance that they make it.
