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 night 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, which strengthened its position in the playoff picture.
Montreal 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 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 scored for Detroit and Cam Talbot stopped 17 shots. The Red Wings failed to earn a point for the first time in five games.
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.
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.
