MONTREAL 鈥� 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 鈥� with his team-leading 37th 鈥� 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 the outside-looking-in Red Wings, New York Rangers, New York Islanders and Columbus Blue Jackets, with one more game played.
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鈥檚 legs on the rebound.
The Canadiens took a 2-1 lead when Christian Dvorak set up Anderson alone in front while Detroit鈥檚 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鈥� 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鈥檚 first-period shot total wasn鈥檛 far off the 27.2 it averaged entering Tuesday鈥檚 game. The Red Wings鈥� 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鈥檚 equalizer, Detroit鈥檚 J.T. Compher missed a gaping net after a weird bounce around the boards left Montembeault out of his net. Compher鈥檚 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 鈥� more than three years before Montreal鈥檚 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
