On Tuesday night at the Bell Center in Montreal, not long before 10 pm local time, whatever remained of the Detroit Red Wings' playoff aspirations shriveled in upon itself in a 4–1 loss to the Canadiens.
Apr 8, 2025; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Montreal Canadiens forward Josh Anderson (17) checks Detroit Red Wings forward Tyler Motte (14) during the first period at the Bell Centre. (Eric Bolte, Imagn Images)
A game the Red Wings dominated for long stretches, a game contested much closer than the final score suggested, but ultimately a game from which one possible outcome—regulation victory—could provide any reasonable foundation from which Detroit could built to the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
The mathematical probability of securing that berth hasn't yet sunk to zero, but the Red Wings trail Montreal by eight points with five games to play, and at the end of a playoff push that's felt more like a slow death, Detroit appears to have at last squandered its last opportunity to pull within striking distance of the cut line.
From a Red Wings perspective, there is no shortage of reasons for Tuesday's loss to sting. To begin with, there is the macro: (all but certainly) a ninth straight season without qualifying for the playoffs, extending the longest such streak in franchise history and second longest active streak around the NHL. Then there is the opponent and the biting frustration at being leap-frogged in the Atlantic Division queue by a Canadiens team in the bottoming out stage of rebuilding than Detroit was.
Then, considering just the game itself, the Red Wings could rightly return to their locker room at the end of the night with an agonizing sense that the evening's game was there to be won, theirs to win.
In the first, Detroit outshot the Habs 23–4 in one of its most dominant periods of the season. Thanks to a canny Patrick Kane set up for Dylan Larkin at the back door, the Red Wings had a lead, but they managed just the one goal despite the offensive volume.
Montreal evened the score with three and a half minutes to play in the second. At the end of an extended Canadiens stay in the Detroit end of the rink, Habs defenseman Mike Matheson fired a puck to the net, where Cam Talbot was unable to squeeze it and Cole Caufield won the battle for the rebound, which he tucked home.
Moments later, the Red Wings had a glorious chance to re-take their lead, when an aggressive carom off the end boards left J.T. Compher with a wide open net. With Montreal defenseman Guhle bearing down, attempting to swat the puck to safety, Compher sailed his shot over the cage, leaving the score tied.
After Detroit had dominated the first and controlled most of the second, the Habs—who'd managed to hold level at 1–1 through two—prevailed in the decisive third period. That period saw some of Talbot's best saves as a Red Wing, including a brilliant technical stop with his glove to deny Josh Anderson at point blank range, but Montreal outshot its guests 10–4 and scored once to take the lead then twice into an empty net to run away with a 4–1 win.
Not long after Talbot's excellent denial, Anderson scored what would prove the game-winner. First Brenden Gallagher beat out an icing to win the Canadiens possession deep in the offensive zone and initiating the cycle. In the battle for the puck behind Talbot's net, Albert Johansson lost his helmet. By rule, because he was not directly involved in the play (or at least he judged himself not to be, such that he feared playing on would draw a penalty), Johansson had to gather the helmet and return it to his head before playing on. As he did so, Anderson found himself wide open a pocket ice of just beyond Talbot's crease, and this time he left the goaltender no choice.
The two empty net goals made the final result more lopsided than the game played out, but in truth, Detroit's season was over as soon as it had to chase the game at six-on-five in the first place. To make up meaningful ground in the wild card race, the Red Wings really needed not just a victory but a regulation victory.
But that distinction proved moot. Montreal claimed regulation victory, and the Red Wings are left to stare into the precipice of a ninth straight playoff miss after losing what was undeniably the biggest game of the year. Detroit has five games left. It can win those and hope.
